# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 

f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



t 



\ * * 






THE 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES: 



COMPRISING 



A HISTORY 



SPIRIT-RAPPINGS, 



IN CINCINNATI AND OTHER PLACES; 



WITH NOTES OF CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS, 



WILLIAM T. COGGSHALL. 



" There is a fount about to stream, 
There is a light about to beam, 
There is a warmth about to flow, 
There is a flower about to blow, 
There is a midnight blackness changing 

Into gray : 
Men of thought, and men of action, 

Clear the way !" 




t 



CINCINNATI: 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
1851. 



? \^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

WILLIAM T. COGGSHALL, 

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 

District of Ohio. 



BEN FRANKLIN BOOK AND JOB PRINTING OFFICE. 



TO 

THOSE WHO WOULD UNDERSTAND, 

AND UNDERSTANDING, 
DARE DEFEND, 

INDEPENDENT OP BIGOTRY AND TRADITION, 

THIS WORK 
is 

RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. 



<( All rests with those who read. A work or thought 
Is what each makes it to himself, and may 
Be full of great, dark meanings, like the sea, 
With shoals of life rushing : or like the air, 
Benighted with the wing of the wild dove, 
Sweeping miles broad o'er the far western woods, 
With mighty glimpses of the central light — 
Or may be nothing — bodiless, spiritless. 
Now, therefore, to this work and to the world 
The writer bids God speed 1 It matters not 
If they agree or differ." 



Proem to Festus. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Preface 5 

Introduction 7 

MYSTERIOUS NOISES. 

Part I. — General History 15 

Part II. — Cincinnati Rappings 25 

SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Part I. — Clairvoyant Revealments 73 

Part II. — Facts and Opinions 107 

Part III. —Spirit-Power 127 



PREFACE. 



In presenting the following work to the public, the author 
is fully aware of the unpopularity of the subject. As the first 
individual who brought the Rapping " manifestations" 7 direct- 
ly before the readers of Cincinnati newspapers, he has heard 
enough, in the last three months, to know that he may expect 
censure and ridicule from all those who have not given can- 
did attention to the '-mysterious manifestations" — who re- 
gard the Rapping stories as unfounded tales, connected with 
u haunted houses" — or, as gross deceptions, growing out of 
the excited imaginations of persons who seek after, and de- 
light in the marvellous ; but he has seen enough of this world 
not to heed opposition from either those who follow it to 
gratify evil propensities, or from those who have creeds and 
opinions to sustain, that their defenders must not allow to 
be examined by any other than the light (?) of tradition, if 
they would have them in general favor. 

In the following pages there are many statements, and 
many admissions, perilous very to one who is not of stern 
enough stuff to endure the satire and ridicule of this world — 
even when he knows fie is right — but, while skeptios and 
scoffers enjoy their jeers and gibes, the writer shall await 
promised "glad tidings" patiently. 

If, as the majority declare, the " manifestations" are all 
delusion, he shall find it out, in the course he has marked 
out for himself — that of candid investigation — much sooner 
than those who, with their eyes blind-folded, cry " humbug;" 
and if, as he is impressed, there is true philosophy in the 



PREFACE. 



new-light, he shall aid in the spreading of truths which must 
teach all men to believe rationally, what many good men 
would now receive, who are driven to heretic ground, on 
account of the bigotry and superstition of the times, and the 
inconsistencies of the professed followers of Christ, viz : that 
there is a hereafter — that there is life above this world, in 
which the justice and mercy of God are divinely manifested. 

Those who think for themselves — who are not under dic- 
tation of any description, and who, with fair evidence, would 
believe that the friends departed, for whom they weep, can- 
not be " forever and forever" shut apart from them, either in 
glory or torment, will thank the author for the " labor of love" 
which, to him, the following work has been. 

For their sake would it were worthier. It has been writ- 
ten amid cares and perplexities growing out of the exacting 
duties of the post of Assistant Editor in the office of a daily 
newspaper, and the author has only been able to give it calm 
reflection at such odd hours as could be snatched from other 
pressing literary engagements. It is, therefore, necessarily 
imperfect, in the style of its preparation ; and crude, no doubt, 
to a very great degree, in many of the theories it suggests. 

In this respect, of carping critics, the author may ask chari- 
ty — in all other respects, he neither expects nor desires sym- 
thy from the mass — and perhaps should hardly anticipate 
aught else than angry persecution on the part of the majority 
— but " truth is mighty and must prevail." 

Cincinnati, 1851. 



INTRODUCTION, 



" What if cherished creeds must fade ? 

Faith will never leave us ; 
God preserves what God has made — 

Nor can Truth deceive us. 

Let in Light — the holy Light ! 
Brothers, fear it never ! 

Darkness smiles, and Wrong grows Right- 
Let in Light forever ! 

Let in Light 1 When this shall be 

Safe and pleasant duty, 
Men in common things shall see 

Goodness, Truth and Beauty." 



In the summer of 1845, I became, from peculiar cir- 
cumstances, interested in the subject of human magnet- 
ism. I had an excellent opportunity to witness experi- 
ments, and was soon impressed that there was something 
more in the developments, than the mere paralyzing of 
an arm or the exciting of phrenological organs. I ex- 
perimented, myself, upon various Subjects, and was im- 
mediately led to the thought that, perhaps, beneath this 
unpopular and much ridiculed magnetism, might lie the 
true science oi mind — that by it, developments would 
some day be made, which would clearly demonstrate the 
relations of mind to body, and the relations of the spirit- 
ual to the material or physical world. The mure I re- 
flected upon the questions involved in this theory, the 
more firmly was I convinced that my opinions were well 
founded. As I have watched the "progress" of magne- 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



tism, from the common manifestations of an Operator's 
power over the Subject's muscles, to the higher develop- 
ments of clairvoyance, I have felt that those investi- 
gating candidly, were being led towards a field of exami- 
nation that would bring the philosophy of mental opera- 
tion nearer to the comprehension of the people generally, 
than the wise men of olden time had ever dreamed. I 
have observed the course of public clairvoyants with 
deep interest : I have endeavored, by all proper means 
in my power, to learn from them, while they were in the 
superior condition ; and when the newspapers of New 
York published accounts of the "mysterious noises/' I 
was not disposed to treat them with ridicule, but to read 
and endeavor to understand, and was ready to believe, as 
far as the "manifestations" appeared to be well authen- 
ticated, and consistent with themselves and reason ; not 
reason from tradition or prejudice, but reason from na- 
ture, and the laws which, through magnetism, I had been 
taught, govern mind. In the statement that mind, es- 
caped from the body, does communicate with mind yet 
connected with the body, there was nothing that con- 
flicted with any theological notions I held, and whenever 
I witnessed " manifestations" that I was satisfied were 
not produced by mortal agencies, I was prepared to be- 
lieve that they might be " spiritual manifestations." 

Early in life I thought much upon spiritual matters. 
All men, I believe who think at all, can say with Festus, 
in the Poem of this name, by Philip James Bailey — 

"In sp'te of all we suffer and enjoy 
The-e comes this question, over and over again, 
Driven in o the brain as a pile is driven — 
What, -hall become of us hereafter 1 what 
Is it we shall do— how feel, how be V 



INTRODUCTION. 



While thinking these thoughts, 1 could not admit the 
generally received orthodox opinions, that the Spirit- 
world was a place to which we must travel — " a bourne 
whence no traveler e'er returns .' ' Although strictly taught 
that if there were spiritual influences in this world, they 
proceeded from God through his messengers — the Angels 
that dwelt in heaven ere the world was created — I could 
never understand, either from the Bible or other sources, 
why a man's guardian Angels might not be the spiritual 
existences of those who, in the flesh, knew and loved 
him. I felt that the history of the world showed that 
"manifestations" from departed Spirits had oAen been 
made, and I knew no reason why they might not now be 
made. Therefore, when " manifestations" were address- 
ed to me, and I was confident, from various circum- 
stances, as well as from the nature of the communication, 
that the sounds were not produced by any of the com- 
pany of embodied Spirits around me, I was impressed that 
they were produced by disembodied Spirits around me, 
and I became deeply and permanently interested in them. 

I have said thus much in relation to my convictions, 
that the reader may appreciate my position in the prepa- 
ration of the history of the "Mysterious Noises" which I 
have heard, and about which I have been reliably in- 
formed. 

Why may not the Spirit-world be around and about 
us ? May our world not be within it, as the world of the 
animal is within ours ; and while we know no more of 
the true condition of the Spirit- world than the ox knows 
of our mental world, is it not a most glorious thought 
that revelations can be made to us, through which we 



10 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



may see and know that those who die are not dead — 
taken from us — but that they are with us, in superior 
wisdom, watching over us — instructing us, hoping that 
we will so live, in harmony with nature, that they may 
commune freely with us in " our daily walk," and show 
us that we may truly begin to live in Heaven, before 
we pass the change called death. 

It is objected that the Mappings are too low an order 
of "manifestations" to come from the Spirit-world — that 
if they were Spiritual manifestations, they would be 
made to all men, under all circumstances. 

That a communication cannot be sent instantaneously 
along hickory poles, from Cincinnati to New York, is 
because hickory poles are not a medium of electrical 
transmission — that every man and every woman does 
not receive intelligent "manifestations," may be that 
neither every man nor every woman is a medium for the 
reception of Spiritual new-lights. If Spiritual "manifes- 
tations" were more generally made, they would rarely 
be received — the midnight blackness has not yet changed 
to gray. There is abroad over the land a holy and a 
superstitious horror of direct influences from the Spirits 
of the bodily entomed. How are the "manifestations," 
purporting to come from the Spirit-world, now regarded by 
the mass ? — the " precious few" only acknowledge them. 
Witness the ridicule, the scorn, the contempt, everywhere 
excited against them among the prejudiced, tradition- 
led and unthinking. Of what service would Spirit- 
ual manifestations be, at this crisis, in every dwelling of 
the land, further than the awakening of a curiosity for 
the odd and strange, the new and wonderful, which is 



INTRODUCTION. 11 



akin to that curiosity that makes boys delight in a panto- 
mime, a puppet show, or a farce. Although the history 
of the world's unpopular movements teaches that "mani- 
festations" from the Spirit-world have been made in all 
ao-es, and the records of witchcraft show that hundreds 
of the unfortunate have been sacrificed to bigotry and 
superstition, for being the mere passing witnesses of what 
may have been true "manifestations" from the Spirit- 
world, mankind are yet benighted, and the foremost in 
the ranks of the persevering seekers after truth have but 
reached the porch of that great temple in which are con- 
tained the heavenly elevating explanations that belong to 
the perfect philosophy of mind and its hereafter — to be 
opened to the world, perhaps by means of discoveries 
that may be made through the contemned "mysterious 
noises." The "manifestations" are yet but raps, per- 
chance because it is for man's good. Popular super- 
stition still conjures fearful visions at the mention of 
" haunted houses." He who would wish to see a ghost 
is fool-hardy. Unquiet graves are yet feared by the 
most consistently pious of the orthodox faith, and church- 
yards, where the murdered rest, are, at midnight, the 
dread of thousands in every community ; and yet peo- 
ple hoot at the very mention of spiritual manifestations. 
A strange and confused idea indeed, is the prevailing one 
in relation to Spirits and the Spirit-world. 

Communications highly important to the persons re- 
ceiving them, have repeatedly been made in Cincinnati, 
Rochester, £Tew York and other places. When the 
world has confidence — when the world has comprehen- 
sion, important communications may be made to it. 



12 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

When we talk to children who are learning the letters of 
the alphabet, we do not give them explanations of Astron- 
omy, Geology, Music, Painting or Elocution. When we 
address or communicate with the mass of tender mind 
in a Sabbath-school, we do not speak as does Daniel 
Webster, before the United States Senate, on questions 
involved in the permanency of the Union. A mind that 
reasoned well from cause to effect, was led to the theory 
of gravitation by the falling of an apple — another, to the 
discovery of the power of steam by the lifting of a tea- 
kettle 1 lid. That the art of Printing was not ascertained 
centuries before Guttenburg, was not because moveable 
types could not be constructed, but because the manner 
of their use was not known — that the steam engine was 
not discovered a century before Worcester, Watt or Ful- 
ton, was not because the power of steam did not exist, 
but because its power was not known — that we were not 
able to have instant communication with cities, thousands 
of miles distant, a century before Morse, was not because 
the magnetic fluid did not travel thus rapidly, but because 
men did not understand the manner of employing its 
speed — that the mode of communication from the Spirit- 
world was not recognized by "noises" long before the 
Hydesville " manifestations, " was not because " noises" 
had not previously been made, but because it did not 
happen that any one was so impressed by them as to 
properly follow out indications. 

Clairvoyants are impressed that the " Kappings" are 
the lowest order of manifestations ; but if we follow out 
their indications, we shall surely be led to such commu- 
nings with the Spirit-world as we cannot fail to recog- 



INTRODUCTION. 13 



nize — such as will not merely reply to trivial questions, 
but such as shall give us instructions that must purify 
and elevate all who receive them. Those who are near- 
est the proper mental and moral condition, will receive 
the earliest satisfactory communings with the higher cir- 
cles of the Spirit-world, while those who now " grope in 
thick darkness'' will be the recipients only of glimmer- 
ings of light from the first or lowest of the Spirit-spheres. 
Wordsworth, in bis poetic appreciation of the simplest 
of nature's impressions, says : — 

" She can so inform 
The mind that is within us, so impress 
With quietness and beauty, and so feed 
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all 
The dreary intercourse of daily life, 
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb 
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold 
Is full of blessings." 

And again be says of one " who never felt the witchery 
of the soft blue sky'' — 

" A primrose by the river's brim, 
A yellow primrose was to him — 
And it was nothing more." 

And in times past, to those who heard the M mysteri- 
ous noises," they were raps, and nothing more than raps 
— nor more than that, nor even that, to many are they 
now. But by the few who ^ 

" Have felt 
A presence that disturbes them with the joy 
Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 
Of something still more deeply interfused^ 

they are regarded as the feeble utterances of a principle 
that has been long struo-cHjrio' against ignorance for ap- 



14 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

propriate recognition, and which is, at no distant period, 
to reveal luminous explanations of the human soul's great 
mysteries, and teach to all men, who are not wretchedly- 
perverse, the divine relations of that within them which 
is immortal. 

We give our impressions and convictions thus pre- 
paratory to the history we have to relate, fully sensible 
that they may expose us to severe censure and bitter 
ridicule; but having enlisted in this "work" we have 
nothing to conceal ; and while we hope that all who have 
traveled thus far with us will journey on, we can assure 
each reader that, from title page to index, he will find 
the book bates not 

" One tittle of the truth 
To smoothe its way to favor with the fearful." 



HISTORY 



MYSTERIOUS NOISES. 



PART I. 



' Tis sweet to fee] we are encircled here 

By breath of Angels, as the stars by Heaven ; 

And the soul's own relations, all divine, 

As kind as even those of blood ; — and thns 

While friends and kin, like Saturn's double rings, 

Cheer us along our orbit, we may feel 

We are not lone in life, but that earth's part 

Of Heaven and all things. Festus. 



GENERAL HISTORY. 



The accounts given in the newspapers of the rapping 
"manifestations/' have excited great interest in all parts 
of the country. The writer has credible authority for a 
conviction that they have been heard in Cincinnati for 
at least three years, among people who have been much 
perplexed and troubled by them ; and he has no doubt 
they have been heard in other cities and in other coun- 
tries ; but the first sounds to which general attention was 
called, and by which communications w^ere made in this 
country, were heard in a small village named Hydesville, 
in the town of Arcadia, Wayne county, New York. It 
has been stated in all the Pamphlets, which give a his- 



16 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



tory of these sounds, that those at Hydesville were the 
first by which communications were ever made to the 
people of this earth. Such, on examination, does not ap- 
pear to be the fact. It is well authenticated that in the 
year 1835, at the house of a captain Molesworth, situ- 
ated at Trinity, about two miles distant from Edinburg, 
Scotland, mysterious sounds were heard, which caused 
the inmates of the house much trouble. The occupant 
supposed them to be occasioned by the owner, a Mr. 
Webster, but after every possible search, was unable to 
ascertain their origin. Sometimes, if a question were ad- 
dressed which could be answered numerically, as, " How 
many persons are in the room?" correct answers would 
be given by the required number of sounds. Captain 
Molesworth had two daughters, one of whom had lately 
died, and the other, a girl about fourteen years of age, 
was feeble, and confined to her bed a great part of the 
time. The noises were heard most frequently in her 
presence. Captain Molesworth, determined to ascertain 
the cause of the sounds, tore up the floors of the house, 
broke the walls, burned the wainscots, but all to no pur- 
pose. The owner of the house brought suit for damages, 
and the case was unsettled for two years. Meantime, 
the young daughter and Captain Molesworth left the 
house, and those that have since occupied it have not 
been disturbed by mysterious sounds. 

The account of these Rappings is given at page 410 
of Catherine Crowe's work, entitled the " Night side of 
Nature." 

The house in which the Hydesville Rappings were 
heard, was occupied during a part of the years of 1846 



GENERAL HISTORY. 17 



and 1847, by Mr. Michael Weekman. Mr. W. states 
that, one evening, about nine o'clock, as he was pre- 
paring to retire for the night, he heard a rapping on the 
out-side door. He opened it, but saw no one. In a few 
moments, the rapping on the door was repeated, and was 
louder than at first. He immediately stepped to the door, 
and opened it ; no person was to be seen. He went into 
the street and looked about the house, and returned, 
without seeing any one. Soon the noise was repeated, 
and, failing to see any person, he placed his hand on the 
latch of the door, in order to open it immediately, should 
the annoyance be continued. Again the rapping was 
heard — he felt the door jar, and sprang into the street. 
No person was to be seen anywhere in the vicinity. 

The family of Mr. John D. Fox moved into the house 
on the 11th of December, 1847. They heard the rap- 
ping for the first time during the latter part of March, 
1848, one evening, after they had retired for the night. 
It seemed to be in one of the bed rooms, and sounded as 
though some one was knocking on the floor, moving 
chairs, &c. Four or five members of the family were at 
home, and they all got up, to ascertain the cause of the 
noise. Every part of the house was searched, yet no- 
thing could be discovered. A perceptible jar was felt by 
putiing the hand on the bedsteads and chairs ; a jar 
was also experienced while standing on the floor. The 
noise was continued, that night as Ion or as any one was 
awake, in the house. The following evening they were 
heard as before, and on the evening of the 31st of March, 
the neighbors were called in for the first time. 

The following is an extract from Mrs. Fox's state- 



18 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

ment, made soon after the occurrences narrated took 
place. It is quoted from a pamphlet on the Mysterious 
Noises, published by D. M. Dewey, of Rochester, N. Y : 

" On Friday night, we concluded to go to bed early, 
and not let it disturb us ; if it came we thought, we would 
not mind it, but tr}~ and get a good night's rest. My 
husband was here on all these occasions, heard the noise 
and helped search. It was very early when .we went to 
bed on this night ; hardly dark. We went to bed so 
early, because we had been broken so much of our rest 
that I was almost sick. 

" My husband had not gone to bed when we first heard 
the noise on this evening. I had just laid down. It 
commenced as usual. I knew it from all other noises I 
had ever heard in the house. The girls, who slept in 
the other bed in the room, heard the noise, and tried to 
make a similar noise by snapping their fingers. The 
youngest girl is about twelve years old ; she is the one 
who made her hand go. As fast as she made the noise 
with her hands or fingers, the sound was followed up in 
the room. It did not sound any different at that time, 
only it made the same number of noises that the girl did. 
When she stopped, the sound itself stopped for a short 
time. 

" The other girl, who is in her fifteenth year, then 
spoke in sport, and said, 'Now do just as I do. Count 
one, two, three, four,' &c, striking one hand in the 
other at the same time. The blows which she made 
were repeated as before. It appeared to answer her by 
repeating every blow that she made. She only did so 
once. She then began to be startled ; and then I spoke 



GENERAL HISTORY. 19 



and said to the noise, ' count ten/ and it made ten strokes 
or noises. Then I asked the ages of my different child- 
ren successively, and it gave a number of raps, corres- 
ponding to the ages of my children. 

a I then asked if it was a human being that was making 
the noise ? and if it was, to manifest it by the same noise. 
There was no noise. I then asked if it was a spirit ? and 
if it was, to manifest it by two sounds. I heard two 
sounds as soon as the words were spoken." 

These "manifestations" caused great excitement in 
the village, and mairy persons called at the house of 
Mr. Fox to hear the noises. Many questions were asked 
and answered by raps correctly. Sounds were only made 
when an affirmative answer was the correct one to a 
question, or when numbers were to be designated. Ac- 
cording to the pamphlet before quoted, at one time, when 
those investigating wished to ascertain a certain name, 
the Spirit was asked if it would rap for the initial letters 
when they were named. The reply was in the affirma- 
tive ; and when the alphabet was called over, there was 
rapping at particular letters. Soon the experiment was 
carried still further, and by request, entire names and 
sentences of considerable length were swelled out. A 

O J. 

signal for the alphabet was soon understood to be five 
raps in quick succession. 

In a few months after the manifestations were first 
heard by the Fox family, several of the members re- 
moved from Hydesville to Rochester, and resided with a 
married sister, Mrs. Fish. The sounds were here heard 
in the presence of Margaretta Fox and Mrs. Fish. They 
were talked about, and elicited general attention — got 



20 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

into the newspapers, and were immediately speculated 
upon in all parts of the Union. The third town in which 
the raps were heard, was Auburn, 1ST. Y. Cathaiiae, 
the youngest daughter of Mr. Fox, visited this place, and 
the sounds were made at the houses she visited. In 
Rochester, the raps have not been confined to the Fox 
Family. Since the " manifestations" in Auburn, they 
have been communicated with in Greece, Monroe county, 
N. Y., in Sennett, Cayuga county, N. Y., in New York 
city, on Long Island, at Troy, N. Y., at Boston and 
Springfield, Mass., and a number of other towns and 
cities. 

On one occasion, in Nov., 1849, at Rochester, the 
sounds communicated the following sentences to certain 
persons assembled for investigation : 

" You have all a duty to perform. We want you to 
make this matter public." 

Objections were made by several individuals against 
being personally engaged in the calling out of the sounds 
before a promiscuous auditory ; ' but finally a Hall was 
engaged and lectures were delivered by E. W. Capron, 
of Auburn, N. Y. An account of this public investiga- 
tion was published in the New York Weekly Tribune, of 
Dec. 8th, 1849. In this account, the Committee of In- 
vestigation, consisting of A. J. Combs, Daniel Marsh, 
Nathaniel Clark, Esq., A. Judson, and Edwin Jones, 
reported, " That without the knowledge of the persons 
in whose presence the manifestations are made, the Com- 
mittee selected the hall of the Sons of Temperance for 
investigation — that the sound on the floor near where the 
two ladies stood, was heard as distinctly as at other 



GENERAL HISTORY. 21 

places, and that part of the Committee heard the rapping 
on the wall behind them — that a number of questions 
were asked which were answered, not altogether right 
nor altogether wrong — that in the afternoon they went 
to the house of a private citizen, and while there the 
sounds were heard on the outside, (apparently,) of the 
front door, after they had entered, and on the door of a 
closet. By placing the hand upon the door, there was a 
sensible jar felt when the rapping was heard. One of 
the Committee placed one of his hands upon the feet of 
the ladies and the other on the floor, and though the 
feet were not moved, there was a distinct jar on the floor. 
On the pavement, and on the ground, the same sound 
was heard ; a kind of double rap, as a stroke and a re- 
bound, were distinguishable. When the ladies were 
separated at a distance, no sound was heard, but when 
a third person was interposed between them, the sounds 
were heard. The ladies seemed to give every opportu- 
nity to the Committee to investigate the cause fully, and 
would submit to a thorough investigation by a Committee 
of ladies, if desired. They all agreed that the sounds 
were heard, hut they entirely failed to discover any means 
by ivJiich it coidd be done" 

Subsequently, another Committee of responsible men 
was appointed to investigate the " mystery." This Com- 
mittee met at the rooms of Dr. Gates, at the Rochester 
House, and appointed a Committee of ladies, who took 
the young women into a room, disrobed them and ex- 
amined their persons and clothing, to be sure that there 
were no fixtures about them that could produce the sounds. 
When satisfied on this point, the Committee of ladies 



22 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



tried some other experiments, and gave the young ladies 
the following certificate : 

" When they were standing on pillows, with a hand- 
kerchief tied around the bottoms of their dresses, tight to 
the ankles, we all heard the rapping on the wall and 
floor distinctly." 

(Signed,) Mrs. STONE, 

Mrs. J. GATES, 
Miss. M. P. LAWRENCE. 

Various other measures were taken to ascertain if the 
sounds were produced by the persons in whose presence 
they were manifested, and each investigation only served 
to show more conclusively, that if there were any de- 
ception, the ladies were deceived — that they did not pro- 
duce the " noises," and if they did, they could not cor- 
rectly have answered a tithe of the questions propounded, 
even by their most intimate acquaintances. 

When Mrs. Fish and the Misses Fox visited New 
York city, every possible test was made to satisfy the 
sceptical and curious, as to the cause of the mysterious 
noises, and everything was calculated to increase confi- 
dence in the honesty of the ladies. There, as in Roches- 
ter, they were disrobed, and examined by a Committee 
of ladies, who reported that the sounds could not have 
been made by Mrs. Fish or either of the Misses Fox. 
Horace Greely, Editor of the New York Tribune, after 
an acquaintance with the Misses Fox, one of whom has 
spent some time in his family, said over his own initials 
in his paper — " We vouch for the perfect honesty and 
good faith of the Fox family. There we stop, awaiting 
more evidence. That some influence, outside and un- 



GENERAL HISTORY. 23 



connected with the volition of the family, causes these 
' manifestations,' we are confident ; what it is, we have 
yet to be assured. ****** 

Our columns are still open to statements of fact tend- 
ing to shed light on these singular occurrences, whether 
on one side or the other. And it is but justice to the 
Fox family to state that at present there are not less 
than forty or fifty families — probably many more — in 
which \ manifestations' are from time to time taking 
place, similar, in general character, to those reported as 
occurring in theirs. Several of these families had never 
heard of the 'Rochester Mappings' when the like first 
commenced in their own dwellings. If all this can be 
the result of imposition and collusion, then it w'ill be 
hard to rely on human observation or human integrity 
hereafter." 

The writer of a pamphlet on the "Rappings," pub- 
lished in New York, who signs himself "A Dweller in 
the Temple," known to be an able psychological writer, 
says in reference to the influences which cause the raps, 
t; Men of the most acute discrimination have long been 
engaged in the investigation. Intelligence and skepti- 
cism, sharpened by the suspicion of fraud, have not 
failed to institute every ordeal afforded by the resources 
of science and art, till sensible and candid men have 
been forced to abandon all idea of tracing the mysterious 
phenomena to any human device. Thus the names of 
innocent persons, who were threatened with the loss of 
reputation and the dearest earthly interests, have been 
vindicated ; their characters are seen to be untarnished 
by alleged acts of fraud and hypocrisy, w T hi!e foul sus- 



24 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



picion is left at last to sting the heart that did gender it." 
The Home Journal, edited by N. P. Willis, entirely 
acquitted the Fox family of the charge of producing the 
sounds, when the Editor heard them in New York, in 
company with William Cullen Bryant, J. Fennimore 
Cooper, and others of the Gotham literati. 

Several weeks since, the papers of New York stated 
that the Tappings were being heard in numerous houses 
in that city, the inmates of which kept the matter secret 
for fear of the dread public and the ridicule of unthink- 
ing sceptics. 

But I have occupied already to much space in this 
general bistary, and must hasten to record Cincinnati 
" manifestations," with the remark, that if the statements 
of Clairvoyants are to be relied upon, these "manifesta- 
tions" are not to be confined to any family, or to any 
town or city, but will be known and acknowledged in all 
parts of our country, and, as previously stated, are but 
to pave the way for higher manifestations, which will 
brino- the dwellers on earth into almost immediate con- 
verse with the dwellers in the Spirit- world. 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 25 



PART II. 



There is a porch wherefrom is something seen 
Of the mam dome beyond. Though shadows cross 
Each other's path, yet let us go through it : 

********* 

Let us think ! 
What mean we by the dead t The dead have life= 
The changed : and, if they come, it is to show 
Their change is for the better. Festus, 



Why come not spirits from the realms of glory 

To visit earth as in the days of old— 
The times of ancient writ and sacred story? 

Is heaven more distant, or has earth grown cold 1 
********* 

To Bethlehem's sky has their last anthem risen 

When other stars before the One grew dim 1 
Was their last presence known in Peter's prison 1 

Or where exulting martyrs raised their hymn ? 

Julia Wallace, 



CINCINNATI "RAPPINGS," 



Cincinnati having been generally favored with all the 
demonstrations strange and wonderful, all the exhibi- 
tions curious or mysterious, that have visited our coun* 
try, we believed, when we first heard about the " mys' 
terious noises" in Rochester, that if they were to spread 
at all, it would not be many months before they would 
be witnessed in the " Queen City." There was much 
talk in this city in reference to them, and it was re* 
ported that they had been heard many weeks previous 



26 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

to the period at which " manifestations" were actually 
made. 

From what has been said previously in these pages, 
and from the numerous instructive articles in the news- 
papers, the mass of the people understand something of 
the manner in which communications are made by 
means of raps : yet it may be well enough here to give 
a few words of explanation. The " manifestations" oc- 
cur where there is what is termed a magnetic circle. 
Sometimes one person is a sufficient medium, sometimes 
several are necessary. The media are persons known 
as clairvoyants, or impressible persons — those who come 
readily under magnetic influence. The sounds are given 
in answer to questions when an affimative is required. 
As previously explained in Part 1., five continuous sounds 
are understood to be a call for the alphabet. The letters 
of the alphabet are repeated, and those necessary for 
the spelling of the words required to form the sentences 
which the Spirit would " manifest," are designated by a 
rap. For instance, if George Washington were giving 
the communication, and he wished himself known — as 
the alp' abet was called over, A. B. C. D. E. F. G., a t 
" G " there would be a rap. As the letters were re- 
peated, the next rap would be at "E," &c. 

The only general medium for the Rappings yet known 
in Cincinnati, is Mrs. B. G. Bushnell, a clairvoyant of 
remarkable power, from the western part of Nov/ York. 
Mrs. B. had heard the " mysterious noises" before her 
visit to Cincinnati, and had communicated with them at 
Rochester, Cleveland, and other places. She visited 
Cincinnati in the pursuit of her profession — making medi- 






CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 27 



cal examinations and prescribing for diseases while in 
the clairvoyant state. We heard much cf her useful- 
ness, by means of her examinations and prescriptions, 
before we met her, and had become very much interested 
in her pursuits. 

On the evening of the 26th of September, 1850, we 
had the pleasure of meeting her with a select party, at 
the house of Prof. J. R. Buchanan, the well known 
Neurologist, and Editor of the Journal of Man, publish- 
ed in this city. During the course of the evening, Mrs. 
B. was impressed by the Professor, She made gener- 
ally accurate phrenological examinations of several gen- 
tlemen present, whom she had never seen before that 
evening, and who sat, during the examination, at the 
opposite side of the room from her. When Dr. Buchanan 
was about to awaken her from the clairvoyant state, she 
bid him stop, and entered upon a description of the ap- 
pearance and character of the D.r's father, many years 
deceased. She gave a very correct description of his 
personal appearance, as compared with a portrait that 
was afterwards shown the company. After speaking of 
the Dr.'s father as spiritually present to her, she entered 
upon a lecture on spiritual conditions. We request- 
ed permission to ask the lady a {"ew questions. It was 
granted. We inquired if we had recently lost a relative. 
She said we had — that it was a person heavier than we 
are — that he was at a distance west — that he was going 
farther west — that he resembled us very much — that he 
must be a brother — that he died suddenly of a disease 
of the stomach. She described his appearance perfectly 
— gave the peculiarities of his mind, and stated that he 



28 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



was in pursuit of an object by which he hoped to " shine 
In the world"— that when he died he expressed many 
regrets— -and she described effects and mementoes which 
we know he had with him, as perfectly as we could have 
done it. Her impressions of all the matters in reference 
to him, of which she spoke, were correct, as near as we 
can judge. 

After this interview, we had several opportunities of 
testing Mrs. B.'s clairvoyant powers, and we became 
convinced that, in many respects, and for many pur- 
poses, they were remarkable. During the interviews we 
had with Mrs. B., for clairvoyant investigations, we 
learned from her that the " mysterious noises" had often 
been made in her presence, and that she had communi- 
cated with Spirits by means of them. Our curiosity 
was excited, and we expressed a strong desire to witness 
the " manifestations." On two occasions the sounds 
were heard by Mrs. B. in our company, but were not 
communicative. The first positive " manifestations" 
were heard on the night of the 14th of October, at the 
house of a gentleman with whom Mrs. Bushnell was 
boarding. The only intelligible communication received 
at this time was the following :— " Your battery is not 
strong enough ." 

The account of this demonstration having spread to 
some extent, there was much speculation in regard to it, 
and much interest manifested to call out further demon- 
strations, The supposition that these rappings are "man= 
ifestations" from the Spirit-world, employed for the pur= 
pose of communicating messages to mortals, having 
excited great interest in them, and awakened intense 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 29 



curiosity wherever they have been heard, it is not strange 
that when it was reported they had been heard in Cin- 
cinnati, there was a multitude of people anxious to be 
among the favored, who had opportunities to receive 
communications from friends that had passed through 
" the dark valley and shadow of death." 

On Wednesday evening, October 16th, a number of 
persons had assembled for the purpose of receiving the 
benefit of Mrs. Bushnell's medical examinations, when 
the mysterious sounds were again heard. Questions 
were asked, and correct rapping replies were given to 
a number of interrogatories, which, we are informed, 
could not have been correctly answered by any mortal. 
The report of this meeting awakened intense curiosity, 
and on the following evening a larger company assem- 
bled at the same place. A circle was formed, and the 
Tappings commenced. Among the gentlemen of this 
circle, were Mr. Samuel Goodin, of Goodin's building, 
Court street; G. W. Ball, stove-founder, of Covington, 
Ky.; Dr. J. P. Gatchell, of the Eclectic Medical College ; 
Mr. Anson Atwood, of Troy, New York ; Mr. Augustus 
Wattles, of Rural, Ohio; Dr. William Owens, of the 
Eclectic College ; Mr. Norton, stove-dealer, on Main 
street; and a number of other gentlemen, together with 
some ladies with whom we were not acquainted. 

The alphabet was called by one of the gentlemen, 
who understood the modus operandi of communicaiton 9 
and the persons in the circle took turns in putting ques- 
tions. It would not be proper to detail all the questions 
and answers ; many of them were unimportant, and 
many though perhaps important to the persons interest- 



30 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

ed, are not worthy of public narration. When it came 
Mr. Goodin's turn to interrogate the Spirits, he inquired : 
" Is there a Spirit present that will communicate with 
me?" Rap. 

" Can I know what Spirit answers?" Rap. 

The alphabet was then called, and the following sen- 
tence spelled : 

" 1 am your own child." 

" The youngest ?" inquired Mr. Goodin. No answer. 

" The second ?" No sound. 

" The eldest ?" Rap. 

The alphabet was again called, and the following sen- 
tence spelled : 

" 1 love you now as well as ever." 

" Do you love your mother V 9 Rap. 

" Are you happy ?" Rap. 

" Are your sisters with you {." Rap. 

" Are they happy ?" Rap. 

44 Can I do anything to make you more happy?" 
Rap. 

Again the alphabet was called, and the following sen- 
tence spelled : 

" Be patient and don't fret about the calomel 99 

A friend, at this communication, remarked, that " Mr. 
Goodin reflected on himself in reference to the child's 
medical treatment during her sickness." As if in re- 
sponse to this, repeated raps were heard. 

Mr. Goodin then inquired — " Did you die in conse- 
quence of taking calomel ?" Rap. 

After some further questions and replies of a private 
character, it came Mr. Augustus Wattles' turn to make 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS 31 



interrogatories. He inquired — i,% Is there a spirit present 
that will converse with me?" Rap. 

" Can I know the person V 9 Rap. 

"Will you spell the name V 9 No sound. 

" Will you give the initials ?" Rap. 

The alphabet was then called, and " W. W." was 
designated. 

" Is it the spirit of my brother, Wm. Wattles V 9 Rap. 

" Do you intend that I should understand that my 
brother, Wm. Wattles, is dead?" Rap. 

" Did he die in California !" No sound. 

" Did he die near California ?" Rap. 

" Were ycu well taken care of?" Rap. 

"What disease did you die of?" Alphabet called 
for by several, quickly repeated raps, and the word 
" diarrhoea" spelled. 

" When shall I hear of this in the common way V 9 
Nq sound. 

" Will it be within one year ?" Rap. 

" Will it be within nine months?" Rap. 

" Will it be within six months ?" No sound. 

A young man from Kentucky, whose name we did 
not learn, had now the opportunity of spiritual converse. 

He inquired, " Will any spirit converse with me?" 
Rap. 

Alphabet called, and the following sentences spelled : 

" I am your mother." Do not oppose him anymore. 
He loill he married" 

This communication excited quite a laugh at the 
young man's expense, and considerable discussion en- 
sued, during which the rappings continued, as if to sig- 



32 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



nify that there were more communications to be made. 
The alphabet was again called, and the following sen- 
tence spelled : 

" It will all come out right." 

Some one inquired, " Is there any meaning to this V f 

Mr. Ball answered, "Yes, there is great meaning in 
it to us." 

Before the company dispersed, some one inquired if 
all the Spirits in the room would rap on the table. In 
response, there was a great number of sounds made at 
the same moment upon the table — some loud, some 
feeble, some sharp, and some prolonged. 

During Friday and Saturday of this week, most of the 
persons who visited Mrs. Bushnell for medical consulta- 
tion, heard the mysterious sounds, and many astonish- 
ing communications were given, if the testimony of re- 
spectable persons is to be credited. 

On Saturday evening, October 19th, we had an oppor- 
tunity of hearing the wonderful demonstrations at the 
house of J. F. Taylor, the gentleman with whose family 
we make our home, a man deeply interested in Spiritual 
investigation, and in whose house there would be no 
deception allowed, under any circumstances. 

A company had been invited to hear Mrs. B. lecture 
on Spiritualism. Among the persons present were Major 
Gano, clerk of the Supreme Court of Cincinnati ; Dr. J. 
S. Garretson ; Dr. Wm. Owens, of the Eclectic College ; 
Dr. Childs, of Walnut Hills; Mr. Augustus Wattles; 
Dr. I. Wilson, Botanic Physician, and many other gen- 
tlemen whose names it is unnecessary to mention, to- 
gether with a large number of ladies. There were three 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 33 



known clairvoyants in the company. While the lecture 
was proceeding, the sounds were heard, apparently, un- 
der the floor, near the speaker. The clairvoyant spoke 
of the rappings, calling them electrical vibrations, and 
said communications might be had from the Spirit-world 
if a battery was formed. Inquiry was made how a bat- 
tery could be formed. The reply was, " By sitting around 
a table." 

The lecturer, with two other persons designated, seated 
themselves together at one corner of the table. Sounds 
were distinctly heard under the floor, directly beneath 
these persons. The alphabet was called, and the word 
Cornell was spelled— the sounds occurring as the letters 
were spoken, in repeating the alphabet. 

It was asked, if it was the Spirit of Mr. Cornell that 
communicated ? Rap. 

A few unimportant questions were asked, when a 
" manifestation" that startled the entire company was 
made : suddenly the left arm of one of the ladies at the 
table, was drawn back with great force, as if it had been 
grasped between the elbow and the shoulder. Several 
persons undertook to relieve the arm by magnetic passes, 
but without effect. The inquiry was made — " Is it the 
Spirit of Mr. Cornell that affects the lady?" Rap. 

"Will the Spirit relieve her ?" No sound ; but sud- 
denly the arm was thrown forward, and the lady was 
entirely relieved. 

We had been conversing with the lady during the 
day, in reference to the manifestations, and we remark- 
ed to the company that she had observed that she would 
not believe the rappings were by Spirits unless soma 



34 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Spirit should take hold of her. At this there were 
several raps near the lady, as if to signify that the Spirit 
had made an effort to convince her. 

The question was put — " Will the Spirit take hold of 
the lady again ?" JVo sound; but the lady says that 
her fingers were pressed together, as if a powerful hand 
had grasped them. She describes the sensation on her 
arm, as if it had been so vigorously grasped between the 
elbow and shoulder, that she was unable to open or shut 
her hand. 

We were satisfied at the time, that this manifestation 
was not the effect of magnetism, as generally understood, 
because the muscles of the arm were not contracted — 
the arm was merely drawn, or pulled back, as described. 

When the alphabet was again called for and repeated, 
the following sentences were spelled : 

a IvMl convince you all. Mrs. Buslinell will he mag- 
netized in one minute" 

Several watches were immediately on the table. Mrs. 
B. said she would not be magnetized, and was ridiculing 
the communication, when at the instant the minute ex- 
pired, with a shock as if a dozen electric batteries had 
operated upon her, her eyes closed, and she became 
rigid. In another minute, with another shock, her eyes 
opened, and the rigidity passed off instantly. 

Again the alphabet was called for, and the following 
sentence spelled — " Go home." 

After some general conversation and much specula- 
tion on the demonstrations of the evening, the com- 
pany dispersed — many expressing themselves astonished, 
others posed, and some convinced that Spirits do com- 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 35 

municate with mortals. On this occasion the sounds 
could not have been produced, we are satisfied, by any 
sort of collusion among any of the company. If any 
were deceived, all were. The manifestations purported 
to be from only one Spirit, that of John P. Cornell, a 
lawyer of some distinction, in Cincinnati, who died of 
cholera in the summer of 1849. 

In this life, Mr. Cornell had carefully and extensively 
made clairvoyant investigations ; he was a firm believer 
in, and pubic advocate of the doctrine that spiritual 
manifestations can be made through clairvoyants, and 
had been identified with a society organized for the pur- 
pose of both physical and spiritual investigations, through 
clairvoyance. It is consistent, then, that on the occa- 
sion referred to, as there were several persons in the 
company who had been closely identified with him in 
this world, that his Spirit should take advantage of cir- 
cumstances and make astounding demonstrations. 

On Monday afternoon, October 21st, in company with 
Mrs. Bushnell, the clairvoyant, "and our " better half," 
we paid a visit to the family of a well known, elcquent 
Temperance Advocate, re?iding several miles from the 
city. At the request of the gentleman, Mrs. Bushnell 
was thrown into the clairvoyant state, under our infl- 
ence. She examined his head, giving, so far as we 
know his character, a very correct estimate. She was 
then requested to describe a lady, whose initials only 
were given. Neither Mrs. Bushnell, nor ourself, had 
ever heard of, or about her. 

According to the gentleman's acknowledgment, she 
described the lady and her husband, and the lady's 



36 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

ailments perfectly. While Mrs. B. was making this ex- 
amination, she began to speak of spiritual matters, as 
she is always prone to do in her clairvoyant state, and 
remarked that she saw a Spirit which seemed to be the 
attendant angel of the household. She gave a descrip- 
tion of this Spirit, which answered the description of the 
gentleman's first wife, some three or four years de- 
ceased, and stated that this Spirit wished to communi- 
cate with the family. 

" Why," said Mrs. Bushnell, " she is magnetising 
Mrs ." 

The lady mentioned had been for several minutes 
much agitated, and was evidently under magnetic influ- 
ence, and continued so for nearly half an hour. 

At the supper-table, Mrs. Bushnell and this lady sat 
directly opposite each other. The mysterious rappings 
were heard under the table, very distinctly. A series 
of questions and retyping replies followed. 

"Will the Spirit communicate ?" Rap. 

" Shall the alphabet be called V' Rap. 

We repeated the letters of the alphabet, and the fol- 
lowing sentence was spelled : 

" 1 am your friend Louisa." 

We inquired of the gentleman, who, he supposed, was 
meant, and he answered that Louisa was the christian 
name of his first wife. No one present but the members 
of the family, was aw T are of this fact. They were all 
much astonished at the demonstration, and several were 
considerably alarmed. 

The question was put — " Are there any more com- 
munications to be made ?" Rap, 



CINCINNATI BAPFINGS* 87 



The letters of the alphabet were repeated, and the 
following sentences spelled : 

M 1 am happy— I am with you here often" 

The astonishment of the family was increased, and 
there was a general conversation in relation to the mys- 
terious sounds, much of which was of a sceptical charac- 
ter, when again the raps were heard, 

" Shall the alphabet be called ?" said one of the com- 
pany. Rap, 

The following sentence was spelled : 

" Will you be satisfied?" 

No sounds were heard after the communication of 
this sentence, until the ladies had retired from the sup- 
per-room and were gathered in the parlor. Here re- 
peated raps were distinctly heard, but it was growing 
late, we had six miles to drive, and business to attend 
to in the city, and were obliged to forego the pleasure of 
farther spiritual intercourse. 

This was treating the Spiritual communicants quite 
cavalierly, but our circumstances were such, it could 
not justifiably have been avoided. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the rappings were heard 
frequently at the house where Mrs. Bushnell was stop- 
ping, and a large number of persons held conversations 
with the rappers. On Wednesday evening, Mrs. Bush- 
nell met a select circle at the house of Prof. J. R, Bu- 
chanan, and communications were received by raps 
from the father of Dr. Buchanan, many years deceased, 
and from Dr. T. V, Morrow, a few months deceased, for* 
merly Dean of the Eclectic Medical College. 

Circles were subsequently formed in various parts of 



38 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



the city, for the purpose of calling out the " manifesta- 
tions," but no communications were received. 

On Saturday, October 26ih } Mrs. Bushnell left Cincin- 
nati, on a visit to her home, in the western part of New 
York, and did not return for nearly four weeks. During 
her absence there were no rapping " manifes ations" 
with which communication was had, although many 
clairvoyant investigations of deep interest were made, 
by means of several excellent subjects. Some account 
of the revelations made, will be given in Part III of 
this work. 

The substance of the History we have thus far de- 
tailed, was published, from day to day, in the Daily 
Times ; it excited great curiosity, and occasioned a great 
deal of speculation. 

It is the nature of the subject. Direct communication 
with the Spirit-world is a matter on which there is so 
much scepticism — a matter so astonishing, judged by 
the common teachings on the subject, that it would be 
strange if articles detailing correspondence with Spirits, 
did not "make talk." Some persons treated the rap- 
pings with scorn — some as a successful humbug-wonder 
—some denounced all who had any communication 
w r ith them, as villains; and some appeared to think that 
lving Spirits do communicate, and very piously affirmed, 
that it is prophesied that in " these latter days" there 
shall be " signs and wonders ;" which, if it were possi- 
ble, would deceive the & ' very elect." Many thought that 
Cincinnati had just been visited by a grand humbug, 
which had " run out" at the Eastern cities. A few were 
disposed to treat the mysterious matter candidly, and 



CINCINNATI MAPPINGS. 39 



honestly investigate it. The Press of the city generally 
ridiculed the whole affair, and two or three papers de- 
nounced the raspings as a decided and outrageous hum- 
bug. They were alluded to in several sermons, but 
were only spoken of directly from an orthodox pulpit on 
one occasion. 

On Sabbath evening, November 3d, Rev. C. B. Boyn- 
ton, of the Vine street Congregational Church, lectured 
on Spiritualism, with reference to the " manifestations." 
He considered them demon- sir axiom, literally. He traced 
through history many remarkable manifestations, which 
he ascribed to the same influences as those producing 
the " RappAngs" He expressed an opinion that the 
astrologers and magicians of olden time received their 
power of magic and divination from Spirits — that is 
to say, wicked Spirits ; and the influences of the present 
day he judged to be from the same source. 

Legions of demons encompass, in his opinion, the 
atmosphere about us, and have the power to make " man- 
ifestations' 9 through man. They might enter man and 
personify other spirits — spirits of friends deceased, or of 
Prophets or Apostles. The Prince of Darkness had the 
power of the air, and if a Spirit should speak to him, 
(Mr. B.,) representing itself as the ethereal essence of 
his dearest departed friend, discrediting, in any particu- 
lar, the doctrines and prophecies of the Bible, as now 
understood, he should believe it a lying Spirit, assuming 
shapes that did not belong to it, for evil purposes. We 
must try the Spirits by the teachings of Christ and his 
Apostles. 

If, from the demonstrations now being made, a sect 



40 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



of spiritualists should grow up that discredited establish* 
ed theology, and that sect should " increase and multi- 
ply/' he should consider that the period was commencing, 
which he conceived to be foretold in the Bible, when the 
Prince of Darkness shall for a time have dominion, and 
the wicked shall triumph, prior to the winding up of 
terrestrial affairs, when the saints shall prevail, and 
Christ shall come in the clouds with his holy Angels to 
judge the world. 

A short time subsequent to this discourse, Prof. Locke, 
of Cincinnati, in a lecture, introductory to a course, before 
the Ohio Medical College, took occasion, as many people 
supposed, to expose the " knocking humbug," scientifi- 
cally. The learned Dr. declared the whole thing a 
well- played, juggling scheme, and to his satisfaction, 
described how magnets and wires might be so disposed 
upon the person of a woman, that she could produce 
mysterious sounds at pleasure. This lecture was a great 
relief to a certain class of minds; and, as it did them no 
harm to be relieved, we are not sorry they found a Doc- 
tor who could prescribe for their peculiar ailments. 

No further public attention was called to the " Knock- 
ings," except by us in the Daily Times ^ until about the 
middle of December, when Prof. Gatchell of the Ec- 
lectic College, delivered two lectures at the Hall of the 
Institute. He gave a sketch of Spiritual manifestations 
in various ages of the world, and presented his views 
upon their philosophy, 

On Sabbath evening, Dec. 22i, Rev. J. P. Stuart, of 
the New Jerusalem Society (Swedenborgian) announced 
a course of lectures on " the communications between 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. ,-. 



men and Spiritual beings in another sphere.' ' His in- 
troductory was reported in full, by J. D. Taylor, Editor 
of the Daily Times. 

He commenced by referring to early Biblical history 
for the first facts bearing on the subject. At the earliest 
period, Angels and Spirits appeared to men, and always 
excited fear and apprehension. The presence of a Spirit 
was a token of evil — voices speaking from the invisible 
world — visions of spiritual things filled the minds even 
of good men with calamitous forebodings, while the evil 
would be utterly overwhelmed. Belshazzar, while drink- 
ing wine from the sacred vessels brought from Jerusalem 
with his wives and concubines, and praising their Gods, 
witnessed the hand-writing on the wall and trembled. 
When the Lord appeared to Adam in the Garden, he 
was afraid. The usual commencement of the message 
of the Angel of the Lord was, ' Fear not.' The word of 
the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, ' Fear 
not, I am thy shield* &c. The Angel of the Lord called 
to Hagar and said unto her, • Fear not, for the Lord hath 
heard the voice of the lad/ &c. The Lord appeared to 
Isaac and said, 'Fear not, for I am with thee/ &c. 
Moses said, ' Fear not, for God has come nigh to prove 
you/ &c. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon 
and said, ' Peace be with thee ; fear not, thou shalt not 
die/ &e. Gabriel appeared to Mary to make the annun- 
ciation, and said to her, ( Fear not, for thou hast found 
favor with God/ &c. Other passages, from the New 
Testament, were quoted, to prove the fact, as announced, 
that fear was common on the occasion of these commu- 
nications. John of Patmos, was so addressed; 'Fear 
4 



42 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



not, I am the first and the last,' &c. Within the last 
hundred years this fear had vanished ; the visit of a 
Spirit had now no terrors to any one ; it disturbed neither 
men, women, nor children. All this was well ; it showed 
at least that we are not afraid. Whoever he is that 
speaks from the " night side of nature/' we are not afraid 
of his voice. Angel, Spirit, or Demon, let him speak, we 
neither hide our eyes, nor shudder at his presence ; on 
the contrary, we seek them out — we say, give us the 
proof of their presence — let us hear their oracles — if they 
are divine, let us worship and adore — if they are miracu- 
lous, let us adore them — if magical or mesmeric, let us 
see them — if galvanic or electrical, let us demonstrate 
them. 

The ambition of bold adventure in spiritual things, 
characterized the spiritual philosophers and their attend- 
ant disciples at the present day. The Lecturer acknow- 
ledged the universal presence of the spiritual world, and 
declared his belief that communication with that world 
was neither impossible nor improbable. The apparitions 
of Angels and Spirits, the visions of Prophets and Apos- 
tles, and the coming of our Lord, were proofs of this com- 
munication, and they were continued when any good and 
useful end might be gained by them. 

The attention called to the " manifestations' 9 by Mr. 
Stuart's lectures, led to a discussion at the Franklin 
Rooms, corner of Yine and Center streets. A large num- 
ber of persons attended, showing that with however much 
ridicule people may treat these subjects, they have deep 
interest in all that pertains to them. 

The speakers on this occasion, were Mr. J. B. Bums, 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 43 



Phonographic Teacher, and ours elf, on the affirmative ; 
D, Reddington, Homoeopathic Physician, and Isaac 
Straub, Machinist, on the negative. The discussion was 
not one that elicited any new views. It was continued 
for several successive Sunday evenings with interest, and 
we presume with profit. 

Mr. Stuart's lectures were all listened to with eager 
attention by very large audiences. He is a man who 
speaks from his heart on these subjects. He is keenly 
susceptible to the elevating influences of the new philos- 
ophy, and is an earnest and intelligent seeker after its 
deepest revelations. In the appropriate Parts of our 
book, we make notes of several lectures by him. 

We now go back and take up the thread of the " rap- 
ping" narrative in regular succession. We made an 
"advance step," in order to bring Mr. Boynton's, Dr. 
Locke's and Mr. Stuart's views in juxtaposition. 

The details of no "manifestations" had been made 
public for sometime, and the wise and witty were having 
rare sport at the expense of the " humbug that had ex- 
ploded." Meantime, Mrs. Bushnell returned to the city. 
A few days after her arrival, sounds were heard in the 
house where she was stopping, but no communications 
were had, till one afternoon, Mr. James Goodin, before 
referred to, and Dr. A. Curtis, of the Botanical Medical 
College, called upon her. Sounds were heard near the 
Dr.'s chair. He inquired— 

" Is there a Spirit present that will communicate with 
me V 9 Rap, 

The alphabet was called for by repeated sounds, and 
at the calling over of the letters, such were designated 



44 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

by raps as spelled the following words : "It is your 
wife, H. A. C. You know you thought I felt hard some- 
times. I did not intend any harm. I am happy now, 
and with you. I am your guardian angel. I have been 
with you all the time. Good evening." 

Mr. Goodin then inquired — 

** Will any spirit communicate with me ?" Rap. 

The following communication was received by the 
usual method : 

" It is your daughter, Anna G . I love my dear 

father. You are most happy with me around the table. 
I answer for all our family. I am your guardian angel." 

On the evening following that on which these " mani- 
festations" were given, another party assembled at the 
same place. A young lady inquired if any Spirit would 
communicate with her ? Distinct raps were given, and 
the following communication made : 

"Be content at your present home. I am with you 
often. It is my pleasure to be with you. Be certain, 
my sister, we are all happy here. I have done as I 
agreed." 

On the announcement of the last sentence, the young 
lady was startled, and she then told the company that 
she had been in Rochester with her sister when rapping 
"manifestations" were being made in the family of Mrs. 
Fish. They did not believe them to be Spiritual " mani- 
festations ;" and when they parted, they mutually agreed 
that whichever died first should visit the other in Spirit, 
and make raps, if it were possible. The sister went to 
Wisconsin, and died. She had come to her sister, in 
Ohio, in Spirit, and fulfilled the promise made in the flesh. 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 45 

Mr. Norton, before spoken of, was one of the circle. 
He inquired if any Spirit would communicate with him ? 
Rap. The following communication was received : 

" I am your brother, David. My mission is to con- 
vince you that I exist in Spirit. Never make a public 
demonstration of it, but publish the communications made 
in private circles. My dear brother, you may consider 
yourself a favored person, as with a proper medium, you 
can communicate with me and others. Use no more 
means to settle my affairs. All is done that can be 
done. I am satisfied with the course you adopted, and 
with the manner my business was closed by George. 
Be happy and contented — I am with you always. Good 
evening." 

Other raps were now heard. The alphabet was called, 
and the following communication given to the same gen- 
man : 

"lam your father. I am here to communicate with 
you and the rest of the folks, but I am not here often — 
my care is for your brother, Washington. No more to- 
night." 

These communications were exceedingly gratifying to 
this gentleman. He had been his brother's administra- 
tor. His own business had obliged him to give the set- 
tlement into a younger brother's hands. It was truly 
gratifying to learn that all had been arranged satisfactorily. 

Other communications were had, but they were not of 
a character proper for publication. At a meeting of a 
circle, subsequent to both the above mentioned, a com- 
munication was made to a gentleman of our city, which 
was exceedingly important to him and friends. 



46 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



Some years ago, a young lady was missing from a 
neighboring city. Part of her clothing was found on 
bushes near the bank of the river. It was supposed that 
she had committed suicide by drowning herself. Her 
family have always believed that such was the fact. On 
the evening referred to, when the gentleman spoken of 
enquired if he could have communication from a Spirit, 
very positive raps were heard, and the following sen- 
tences spelled : 

" It is M. J. McC . I died with disease in the 

South — at Natchez. I went away with a young man, a 
mate on a steamboat. Tell father, Miss A. H. and Mr. 
T.'s family. I threw my clothes on the bushes to make 
people believe I was drowned. I will make the clair- 
voyant my medium to communicate all about my death." 

It would not be proper to publish the revelation made 
through the clairvoyant. 

On the evening of November 6th, it was our privilege 
to be one of a small circle in which were two clairvoy- 
ants. The mysterious noises were heard frequently with 
more distinctness, than any " rappings" that it had been 
our privilege to hear previously. The floor of the room 
seemed to vibrate. The company gathered around a 
table, when in the usual method, by questions and raps, 
at the call of the alphabet, the following communications, 
addressed to us, were received : 

" Will you publish all I tell you ? I am your brother, 
James D. Coggshall. I am satisfied with my treatment 
on the way to California. I have been home often. I 
am with you often. I died of Cholera. I am entirely 
satisfied with my death, and have seen the justice of your 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 47 



course about it. I have made manifestations about your 
house. I will speak to you through a clairvoyant." 

In a few moments, one of the clairvoyants was thrown 
with a shock into the magnetic state, and spoke nearly 
as follows : 

" You will understand that it is me, your brother 
James. To converse by sounds is irksome and tedious. 
1 cannot tell you all I wish by rappings, and I cannot 
speak to you except through the organs of clay ; there- 
fore I impress a clairvoyant, who speaks as I dictate. 

I wish you to remember what I say, and publish it. 
Say that it is from our brother. When I left my friends 
for a distant country, I was led by strong ambitious im- 
pulses. I had a great anxiety for novelty, a burning de- 
sire to see the sights and engage in the adventures of the 
journey. I wished to make myself rich in California. I 
felt deep regret to leave my friends, but the desire to 
reach California was stronger. You have had appre- 
hensions that all was not right about my death. I want 
you to be satisfied. I did not die at Fort Laramie, as 
you heard, but at a place three days journey distant from 
the fort, near an Indian settlement which has no English 
name. 

When I knew that I must die, it seemed hard indeed, 
that I must give up my life away from friends, and be 
buried in that wilderness. I thought of all my friends, 
but especially of my mother, and of her feelings when I 
left home. It was so grievous that I must die away from 
home, and that the news must go back to her. I feared 
that she would grieve peculiarly, believing that there was 
something dreadful about my death. I feared death, 



48 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

but the pain in my bowels and stomach was intense, and 
soon my Spirit was liberated. All was dark for a mo- 
ment ; then I was happy. 

In a moment I was with yon and at home. I am hap- 
py ; I am satisfied with the change. I will tell you 
much of spiritual influences and conditions, but cannot 
do so now. My deceased friends are with me ; we are 
all happy ; I shall make manifestations to your family." 

The references to our fears in relation to this brother's 
death, were just, but it is a matter that had not been 
talked about anywhere except in our own family. The 
clairvoyant knew no more about his death — the place or 
manner of it, than the readers of the Cincinnati papers 
generally— an obituary having been published in several 
of them. 

This brother was a young man of decided energy of 
character, who left a pleasant home with high hopes, and 
a full determination to gather a fortune in the gold re- 
gion of California ; but in the endurance of hardship he 
was suddenly stricken down, ere he had journeyed half- 
way to the golden-sanded shores, against which the 
mighty Pacific beat. 

In his communication quoted above, he states that 
when he knew he must die, it seemed hard to give up 
life away from friends, and be buried in the wilderness. 
As we were informed, by letter, his last words were — 
This is Hard. 

Under the impressions given by the popular teachings, 
in reference to death, and the life after it, it is hard to 
die in the summer of this life, when the tender buds of 
hope are promising to burst forth into flowers that will 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 49 

exhale sweetest odors. When bright gleams of sunshine 
flash along the path of the future, with no heavy shadows 
fallino- between, it is hard to realize that the life currents 
flow with uncertain impulse, and that the fearful and won- 
derful machinery of the body must soon be at rest. 

Under any philosophy, in the winter of life, when the 
frosts of age have gathered, and the blood winds its way 
slowly through shriveled veins — in the decline, subse- 
quent to the period at which the ambitions of life are 
over, man may resignedly take the journey through the 
"dark valley and shadow of death" — but when all the 
hopes that make existence dear, lie earthward in the 
future, if fell disease fasten upon the frame of expectant 
youth, it requires the resignation of Him, who shed drops 
of blood in Gethsemane, to meet the universal victor 
without unavailing regrets, and saddest expressions of 
most overwhelming disappointment. 

With the darkest prospect of the most unsatisfactory 
and inconsistent theology before them, the lonely and 
friendless, who have treasures in Heaven, may exclaim — 

" Death is a road our dearest friends have gone, 
Why with such leaders fear to say, lead on !" 

bidding welcome to the summons that prepares them to 
meet these friends ; but those who are called to seek the 
river of life, flowing through Spirit-land, while earth is 
the home of the sweetest loves of childhood, and the 
nearest friends of riper years, may sigh with their latest 
breath, '• This is hard" if they believe that between 
them and their friends there is to be an impassable gulf 
until the " Great Day of Resurrection," when they may 
only meet, to be again separated "forever and forever " 



50 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



Those who have faith in the Spiritual philosophy now 
dawning clearly on the world — who believe that the 
Spirits of the so-called dead are the ministering angels of 
the friends they have left in the flesh, and who receive 
the doctrine that men may so live, that on earth, they 
may have visions of Heaven, can at any period of life, re- 
signedly pass the change which introduces them to the 
Spiritual spheres, confident that from the Spirit-world it 
will be their privilege to visit the cherished of this world, 
and engage in the glorious work of leading them nearer 
and nearer, as time rolls on, to' that perfection which gives 
the Prophets and the Apostles the richness of Spiritual 
happiness — which is the universal boon of the "just made 
perfect" in the fulfillment of the hereafter to be properly 
recognized law, that — 

" It is much less what we do 
Than what we think, which fits us for the future." 

There were many things connected with the " manifes- 
tations" from our brother that were peculiarly convincing, 
which cannot properly be made public. 

On the same evening, there were "manifestations" 
from two other Spirits, that of Mr. J. P. Cornell and that 
of Rev. James H. Perkins, the well known philanthropist 
and Unitarian preacher, of Cincinnati, who met an un- 
timely death in the winter of 1849. Mr. Cornell's com- 
munication was of no particular interest. The substance 
of Mr. Perkins' was, that we were to send word to 
his family that they were not to grieve about his death, 
nor the manner of it. The sounds on this evening were 
all different and in different parts of the room. From 
our brother, they were on the table, so near and so 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 51 

powerful that we could feel the vibrations — from Mr. 
Perkins, they were on the floor, under the table — from 
Mr. Cornell, on the floor, at one side of the table. 

As the particulars of these Spiritual interviews became 
known, the interest in them deepened, and we began to 
hear of demonstrations in various quarters of the city. 
Great curiosity was manifested by believers and unbe- 
lievers, to meet Mrs. Bushnell, and hear the "mysteri- 
ous noises ;" but, as yet, only a small portion of the 
curious in Cincinnati have been among the privileged. 

About the first of December, we heard of "rappings" 
in several portions of the city. A Miss B , on Cut- 
ter street, had frequently heard them, but had never 
communicated with them, and her family considered them 

forerunners of calamity. A Miss M , had heard the 

sounds repeatedly before Mrs. Bushnell visited the city. 

A Miss H , had often heard them. They were first 

manifested about two years ago. They alarmed her 
father and mother. They endeavored to ascertain the 
cause, but without success, and could never understand 
them until they heard of the " Rochester Knockings." 
Dr. Wm. Owens, of the Eclectic Medical College, had 
frequently heard them, and had occasionally received 
answers to mental questions from the Spirit of Dr. Mor- 
row. During the last week of November, several per- 
sons held communications with the sounds, while con- 
sulting Mrs. Bushnell for medical purposes. Prof. B. L. 
Hill received, by means of raps, what he considers a 
very important communication, in reference to medical 
science. A lady, whose husband had been some months 
deceased, received a communication from him, in refer- 



52 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

ence to the settlement of business, and the deception of 
certain persons who were administrating his estate, 
which has proved of great importance to her. A young 
man, of this city, informs us that his sister, a Miss J. 
who died a few months since, told her family on her 
death-bed, that if the " rappings" were not a delusion, 
she would communicate with them. To her brother-in- 
law, she said — " I will visit you when I leave the body, 
if I can, and make a sound that you will recognize." 

A few weeks ago, a sister of this lady had an oppor- 
tunity to hear the raps, and she received communica- 
tions which convinced her that her sister, who had de- 
parted from this sphere, had fulfilled her promise. The 
brother-in-law has heard sounds for which he cannot 
account. We give this as told us in good faith, by a 
respectable and responsible man — one who would not 
be likely to jest about the return of a departed sister, to 
his family, in such a manner that her presence was be- 
lieved. 

Dr. Silsbee, a gentleman of Cincinnati, who is much 
interested in the New-Light Philosophy, was, on one 
occasion, making clairvoyant examinations, in company 
with a friend, named Allen, when rapping communica- 
tions were given him, purporting to come from his father. 
The character of the communication was such, that he 
endeavored, subsequently, on several occasions, to get 
into a circle through which the sounds could be made. 

He was, one afternoon, sittting in his office, in com- 
pany with his brother, a lad about fourteen years of age, 
when he heard the sounds distinctly. He called his 
brother to the table, at which he was writing, when the 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 53 



"noises" were manifested loudly. He requested that 
if it were a Spirit manifesting, it would make two raps. 
The sounds came so positively that he felt the vibration. 
He inquired if his brother was a medium, and if he 
would receive " manifestations" through him, and was 
answered by raps affirmatory ; after which he could call 
out no more sounds. 

These " manifestations" induced the Dr. to bring his 
brother into the company of a clairvoyant. He was 
told that the lad had often had " manifestations" — that 
he had heard sounds and seen lights, and that he was 
under the influence of the Spirit of a lady who, in this 
sphere, had been an intimate friend of his family. The 
lad verified the clairvoyant's impressions by stating that 
he had often seen lights and heard what were called 
rapping s. 

The names and references of all the persons alluded to 
in these communications are not given, because it would 
be improper to connect them or their affairs more inti- 
mately with the matter. We have the statements from 
reliable sources, or we should not refer to them ; and 
only do so at all, to show that the " manifestations" 
have not been confined to a particular individual in all 
respects. 

On account of the ridicule thrown upon all who were 
in any way identified with the " rapping manifestations," 
and because the curiosity they excited brough; so many 
persons to her house, that her business — making medical 
examinations — was materially interfered with,Mry.Bush- 
nell decided, positively, about the first of Decembers that 
she would, under no circumstances, place herself in a 



54 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

circle for the purpose of receiving the " manifestations." 
With a few exceptions, of a private nature, she has 
maintained her position. All the "manifestations," pro 
and con, belonging to this part of our History, which 
were reported for several weeks, will be found in the 
following article, written by us for the Daily Times, of 
Dec. 13th, under the caption of 

MORE ABOUT THE MYSTERIOUS "MANIFESTATIONS." 

" For several weeks there have been no communica- 
tions in the Times, in reference to the " mysterious 
noises" which not many moons ago caused something 
of " a stir" in the city. People now say, "done with" 
" blown over"—" bust up"—" gone by the board." 

Not so. We have more evidence to convince us that 
they are spreading and becoming of increased impor- 
tance, than did the jury which convicted Dr. Webster, 
that he was guilty of the crime charged. The " myste- 
rious noises" are now heard in many families in this 
city, who keep the matter sacredly secret lest the gos- 
sipping public may say they live in " haunted houses." 

But a few of these " manifestations" have been com- 
municative, and such communications as have been re* 
ceived cannot yet be given to the public— all in due season* 

It may not be improper to state, however, that within 
a couple of weeks, numerous "manifestations" have 
been made by persons of note in the world, some years 
deceased. Among them, we may mention Morgan, 
about whose death was created, many years ago, the 
wild, Anti-Mason excitement which agitated the country 
from Maine to Florida, 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 55 

Morgan, by raps, stated to a circle that he joined the 
Free-Masons for a selfish purpose — that he made his 
" Expose" for a speculation, and that he published more 
lies than truths — that he had been the cause of much 
harm in the world, and that he was now endeavoring to do 
what good he could, by removing wrong impressions." 

This communication was addressed to a prominent 
Free-Mason, who had sought, by clairvoyance, to in- 
vestigate the Morgan affair. Iu due time he will make 
the detail public. 

During the first week of December, the following 
article appeared in the Chronicle and Atlas, of Cin- 
cinnati : 

"KNOCKINGS," 

"Mr. W. T. C, which, most probably, may be inter- 
preted William Turner Coggshall— I beg pardon if I am 
in error. 

I wish to address myself to W. T. C, a contributor 
for the columns of the "Daily Times," on the subject 
of sundry mysterious " Knockings," said to have taken 
place in our city lately. 

Surely, you are aware that the newspaper press is the 
most important channel through which to enlighten and 
improve the public mind in all the branches of know- 
ledge ; there is no branch of science, ethics, or philoso- 
phy, for the dissemination and promotion of which, a 
well-conducted newspaper does not largely contribute. 

It sometimes happens, however, that morbid commu- 
nications creep into the public press—such as will not 
stand the test of sound philosophy, reason, or common 
sense. Trifling, harmless items may innocently amuse 



56 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

the light minded ; but to urge, with sober sincerity, 
the ridiculous humbug and folly of spirit " knockings," 
and a pretended converse with the spirits of the dead, 
ought, in my opinion, be put to the test of reason. 

And first : What is a spirit ? Why. it is nothing, 
in substance — it is something, in metaphysics — it is the 
immortal part of man, called the mind — after death, it 
is called the soul, or spirit. 

Second: What is a " knock ?" It is a noise ; and 
what is a noise ? it is the result of matter operating 
upon matter. From the loudest rumbling thunder-cloud 
to the softest notes of the flute — from the frightful roar 
of the lion to the plaintive warbling of the nightingale, 
is nothing more or less, than the result of the action of 
matter on matter. You might as well tell your mind to 
take a nail hammer and drive a ten-penny nail, and ex- 
pect the result, as to expect a " knock," or noise of any- 
kind, from an immortal spirit. If it were not considered 
rash, I would defy ail the spirits in the wide world to 
make one single " knock" that could be heard by the 
drum of mortal ear ; because it requires matter to act 
on matter to be heard by the natural ear. If you can 
prove to the contrary, I will call you an able Ontolo- 
gystic Doctor. 

A few exceptions to this general principle are recorded 
in holy writ, for wise, good, and important objects. 

Jehovah spake to man ; but the idea of spirits speak- 
ing to us, through the agency of a woman, playing off 
her exhibitions for money — it seems to me, ought to 
• disgust you and others — and you are about collecting, in 
pamphlet form, a history of all the " knockings." Had 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 57 



you not rather publish a new edition of the "Arabian 
Nights' Entertainments ?" — for be it known that an in- 
nocent fiction is far better than an injurious humbug. 
Respectfully yours, 

ISAAC STRAUB. 

We did not deem it proper to answer Mr. Straub's 
communication, by attempting to argue that his premises 
were not well founded ; but we published a brief com- 
munication in the Daily Times, in which, after telling 
Mr. Straub that we believed, before one century, his 
positions would be considered as unfounded as the wild- 
est Arabian romance, we denied, positively, his insulting 
insinuation that the "manifestations" were "through 
the agency of a woman playing off her exhibitions for 
money." 

This denial we requested the publishers of the Chron- 
icle and Atlas, Messrs. Foster & Corwine, to copy, and 
were answered in the following paragraph : 

" If there was a single kernel to be found in the bushel 
of chaff which W. T\ C. asks us to insert in the Chroni- 
cle and Atlas, we would comply with the request. As 
it is, we prefer to serve up something more substantial 
for our readers." 

To this we retorted that we had thought the Proprie- 
tors of the Chronicle and Atlas fairer men than such 
as would publish a positive libel in their columns, and 
then refuse to give place to its refutation. After several 
newspaper squibs, back and forth, the Atlas condescend- 
ed to copy from the Times a statement that to our know- 
ledge, no person in Cincinnati had been connected with 



58 SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 



the " rappings" for the purpose of making money — fur- 
ther than was implied in our intention to publish a 
pamphlet for sale. 

We mention this afFair to show how " even-handed 
justice" is meted out in orthodox "spheres," to those 
who are in any way connected with the new spiritual 
philosophy, or who have dared to declare that the "rap- 
ping" manifestations are not essential humbug. 

There is in the world pride of position — pride of pro- 
fession, and most manifestly, a pride of being on the 
popular side. Whatever comes not from the " Schools," 
theological, medical, scientific, or political, must neces- 
sarily be humbug — whatever comes from them, must be 
received as truth, let it be, in itself, ever so inconsistent 
and ridiculous. Mrs. Crowe, in her " Night side of 
Nature" — a book that should be generally read*- — utters 
the following just sentiments in relation to theories that 
may not happen to be endorsed by the Disciples of the 
"Schools:" 

" They (the philosophers) do not quarrel with a new 
metal or a new plant, and even a new comet, or a new 
island stands a fair chance of being well received ; 
while phrenology and mesmerism testify that any dis- 
covery tending to throw light on what most deeply con- 
cerns us, namely, our own being, must be prepared to 
encounter a storm of angry persecution. And one of 
the evils of this hasty and precipitate opposition is, that 
the passions and interests of opposers become involved 
in the dispute ; instead of investigators, they become 
partisans ; having declared against it in the outset, it is 

* For sale by J. A. & U. P. James, Cincinnati. 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 59 



important to their petty interests that the thing shall not 
be true, and they determine it shall not be if they can 
help it. Hence these hasty, angry investigations of new 
facts, and the triumph with which failures are recorded ; 
and hence the willful overlooking of the axiom, that a 
thousand negatives cannot overthrow the evidence of 
one affirmative experiment." 

We quoted Mr. Straub's article in full, and we feel 
impressed to make a few remarks in reply to it, not be- 
cause we consider it an effusion that, unless shown to be 
based upon false premises may do great mischief, but be- 
cause it fairly represents the opinions of a class of people 
who should be taught that there are " more things in 
Heaven and earth than are dreamed of in their philoso- 
phy." We believe Mr. Straub honest in his views, as 
firmly as we believe him grossly deceived in reference 
to the philosophy of spiritual things, or as firmly as, at 
the time he wrote the article in question, he believed us 
the victim of a " base delusion." We knew him in our 
youth, and have sincere respect for him. We desire to 
see him, and all others of his school, in the "right 
track," therefore we shall examine a few of his proposi- 
tions by the new-light. 

We admit fully all the importance which Mr. Straub 
concedes the newspaper press, and on account of what 
we believe its influence, we have taken pains to publish 
our investigations, very mnch at length, in the newspa- 
pers. 

The Orthodox Church teaches, as Mr. S. declares, 
that Spirit is no-thing, in substance, but some-thing, in 
metaphysics, Now what is metaphysics, and what does 



60 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Mr. Straub know of it further than the views given him 
by the "Schools?" He believes what the books tell 
him, and nothing more. Why does he believe this 1 
Because he has never taken pains to try the philosophy 
fairly by the test of independent reason. 

The Spiritual has form as well as the material — the 
Spiritual is the inmost, the material the outmost form — 
the Spiritual is the essence, the material the substance. 

Mr. Straub asks — " What is a ' knock V It is a noise. 
And what is a noise 1 It is the result of matter opera- 
ting upon matter." 

Very true ; but what is matter and what is not 1 
Noises are made by electricity. What is electricity ? 
— matter ? If so, what are its relations to iron ? The 
" Schools" answer this in their teachings. Now Spirit 
out of the corporeal body has a relation to Soul in it, 
which forms a medium of attraction, somewhat as iron 
has an attraction for the influences of the natural mag- 
net. While mind is connected with the corporeal body, 
it employs its power to make forces of any kind through 
the 'mediums' which that body furnishes — it strikes with 
the hand — it sees with the eye — it hears with the ear — it 
speaks with the voice. No one pretends to say that the 
eye wsees — it is but the window of the soul. 

When the soul has been released from the tenement 
of clay in which it was developed in its Spiritual form, 
it employs such 'mediums' as lie in its power, for the effect 
of forces. The medium is electricity, and through its at- 
tractions in appropriate spheres, Spirit can move mate- 
rial objects by effects on their essences, and can produce 
sounds by bringing the Spiritual essence of electricity in 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 61 

contact with the material of electricity, which belongs to 
man in his state preparatory to the dwelling among the 
essences, or in what orthodox philosophy calls the imma- 
terial sphere. In Part I. of the second Section of our work, 
will be found some views on this point, by Rev. J.P.Stuart. 
How much Mr. Straub intended to accede, when he 
admitted that exceptions to the general principle he laid 
down were " recorded in Holy writ for wise, good and 
important objects," we would not pretend to say ; but 
it appears to us that if the " immateriality" of which he 
speaks ever made u a 'knock,' or noise of any kind," no 
matter at what age of the world, or for what purpose, 
the whole theory Mr. Straub advances, and all the creeds, 
(from which he took it,) that in keeping with it, belong 
to the established Churches and Schools, are proven 
fallacies. We need not argue these points further. 
The entire philosophy of which our book treats, is an 
argument against views of a similar character. 
To Mr. Straub 's article was added the following : 
"P. S. — Should you have any more demonstrations 
with the Spirit-world, (as you call it,) please invite me 
one of your select party. I pledge myself to expose the 
trick you are trying to play off on community. I. S." 

This was quite gentlemanly, but disregarding the in- 
sult, we publicly promised Mr. Straub an opportunity to 
" expose the humbug" at our earliest convenience. Be- 
fore we met him, a friend sent us the following note : 

" Friend Coggshall : — Your old friend, Straub, since 
writing his article, has had some reason to believe that 
he does not clearly understand all he wrote about. 



62 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



When I see you I will give some particulars in regard 
to friend Isaac, that will amuse, if not edify you. If 
you are roving about town, just drop in at my office — I 
would like to see you. Yours, Spiritually, &c. 

We called at this friend's office, and learned that Mr. 
Straub acknowledged that he had heard some sounds, at 
a certain house, which were very mysterious. He could 
not account for them — nor could he either imitate or 
explain them. He had determined to publish an article 
that would put us hors du combat, but after hearing the 
sounds referred to, he concluded not to be hasty. He 
is investigating, and we hope if the thing is all humbug, 
he may be able to expose it. He is not a man easily 
satisfied nor readily humbugged. When he decides in 
favor of the Wrappings," it will be something of impor- 
tance in their defense. We shall publish his decision 
with pleasure. 

Of one of the important " manifestations" referred to 
in the extract from the Daily Times, we may give the 
following account : 

On the 27th of November, we received the subjoined 
letter from a gentleman of the highest respectability. 
It was addressed to the publisher of the Daily Times : 

" C. W. Starbuck — Sir: — I have noticed lately, sever- 
al articles in the Daily Times about " Mysterious Knock- 
ings," and as I am in possession of some queer facts in 
regard to certain " manifestations" of that kind, I would 
like to know who the writer of said communications is, 
and also see him. 1 merely write you this note, in 
order that it may be shown the writer ; and if he thinks 



CINCINNATI KAPPINGS. 63 



it worth while to call on me, I think he would be amply 
repaid for the time spent. I have for at least two years, 
until lately, endeavored to account for certain strange 
noises, &c, at a certain house in this city, supposing 
they were to be accounted for by natural causes, but 
latterly I have given that up. 

I am no believer in Spiritual U manifestations," witch- 
es or ghosts, but there are some strange things happen- 
ing at the house I refer to, that are yet all mystery to 
the inhabitants thereof, as well as the casual visitor. 

These " manifestations" are not confined to any par- 
ticular time — they are heard during the day as well as 
through all hours of the night — are not of such charac- 
ter as in any way to disturb the family quiet, but are 
clear, distinct raps — at one time directly overhead, again 
in the adjoining room, then apparently in the room at 
the farthest end of the house, then in the room where 
the family is seated, &c, &c. I have frequently felt 
the jar or vibration on the floor or door-jam, caused by 
these knocks, when I knew, positively, there was no 
living person in or about the room or place from whence 
they seemed to come, &c, &c. More on this subject I 
need not write ; I propose to the writer on "Spiritual 
Knockings" a visit to the premises, where, if he has 
any knowledge on that subject, he may help us to clear 
up the mystery. Yours, * * * n 

We called upon this gentleman, and after conversing 
with him for a couple of hours, made an engagement to 
meet him at the house to which he referred. We were 
accompanied by a reliable clairvoyant. We were in- 
formed that the sounds had been heard for nearly three 



64 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

years, but that since something of an excitement had 
been awakened in the city in reference to such " mani- 
festations," they had been much more frequent and 
much louder. The gentleman of the house was a de- 
cided disbeliever in "ghosts," and conceiving that there 
must be some cause for the sounds which he could as- 
certain by careful watching and patient investigation, he 
had many times searched the house from garret to cel- 
lar, while the sounds followed him as if to defy investi- 
gation. He was compelled to give it up — to declare 
that he could not ascertain the cause. When he read 
of the rapping " manifestations" in Cincinnati, the 
thought struck him that perhaps the sounds about his 
house might be explained. He was sceptical, but to 
satisfy his mind he made arrangements to meet some of 
those who had heard the raps, and give them an oppor- 
tunity to compare the sounds at his house with those that 
had been made in other places. 

On the first evening that we visited the house, but 
few sounds were made, and these were very indistinct. 
The clairvoyant that accompanied us said they were 
produced by an elderly man, who was making them for 
the purpose of calling the attention of the family to a 
wrong that had been committed upon a person they 
knew, and in whose welfare they felt an interest. The 
Spirit was described so accurately by the clairvoyant, 
that the family recognized an acquaintance several years 
deceased. 

On the day following these investigations, we visited 
another clairvoyant in the city who knew nothing of 
the "manifestations" at the house in question, when 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 65 



the impressions of the first clairvoyant were confirmed 
in all essential particulars. 

We paid a second visit to the house. There were 
two clairvcyants in the company. The sounds were 
heard in various parts of the house. They sometimes 
resembled the noise made by a mechanic fashioning a 
wedge, and at other times appeared to be distinct raps 
on the wall, ceiling and floor. A circle was formed, 
and raps were heard beneath the table. The alphabet 
was called over and a number of communications were 
received, confirming in the main, the statements of the 
clairvoyants, and revealing many matters of which the 
strangers present were entirely ignorant, and many that 
were new and important to the family and their friends. 

It would be improper to make the communications 
public, nor are we permitted, were it our wish, to make 
any reference to the family ; but we can state that if it 
ever becomes necessary, the truthfulness of our narra- 
tion can be substantiated by many witnesses. 

During the early part of January, 1851, a clairvoyant, 
formerly of Cincinnati, paid a visit to some friends in 
Indiana. At the house in which she stopped, at Rich- 
mond, Wayne county, the mysterious sounds were heard 
so loudly that the persons belonging there were alarmed. 
At Winchester, la., she communicated with friends by 
means of raps, readily and satisfactorily. Her father, 
who was entirely sceptical in reference to Spiritual 
" manifestations" on earth, was fully satisfied, by severe 
test questions, that the Spirit of his brother communed 
with him. 

When this clairvoyant is among her intimate friends, 



66 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

near Cincinnati, the raps are never made to her. She 
holds more direct communion with Spirits, and her 
friends have confidence. 

When in Indiana, the Spirits told her that it was ne- 
cessary there should be " manifestations" apparently 
independent of her, that her friends there could have 
such evidence as must win their confidence, if they were 
candid. 

Here is explained the general object of the rapping 
manifestations — the low order of communication at 
which scepticism hurls its pointed javelins. Before the 
music student can expect to call from the piano the melo- 
dy belonging to the notes of Mozart's divinest composi- 
tions, he must have intimate knowledge of the gamut, m 
harmony with the laws of which, his music exercise has 
been constructed. Parents never expect their children 
to read until they have been taught the alphabet. 

We might extend this Part of our work many pages, 
with the detail of rapping " manifestations," but it is 
perhaps unnecessary. We have much yet to record of 
a different character. As we have before stated, higher 
than rapping u manifestations" are expected. We shall 
watch the " signs of the times," and as soon as circum- 
stances justify, and the " cause" shall demand further 
labor, a Sequel to this work will be published, giving 
full details of what may hereafter be " manifested." 

It is the impression of clairvoyants always, in the in- 
ternal condition, that Spirits are manifested to them, and 
they are ever prone to describe them and talk about 
Spiritual matters. 

It is universal clairvoyant conviction, that the Spirit- 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 67 



world is around and about us; that the Spirits of 
the departed are the ministering Angels of this world. 
Whenever persons think intently of departed friends, 
the Spirits of these friends are attracted to them ; there- 
fore, in magnetic circles, those Spirits communicate 
generally, which in life were near and dear, in friend- 
ship or relation, to those making inquiries. It is imma- 
terial, when the magnetic circle is properly formed, 
whether the questions are spoken or made mentally. 
It is the impression of clairvoyants, that the Spirits of 
prominent persons of the past generation are teaching 
the minds of reformers of the present day. They are 
to have more and more satisfactory communings with 
the Spirit-world. The demonstrations are now becoming 
more distinct and satisfactory ; and it will not be many 
years before great numbers of persons will hold audible 
converse with the Spirits of friends departed. It was a 
great step in progress when the genius of Morse made a 
post-boy of electric currents, and so directed them, that 
with the rapidity of thought they transmit intelligence 
from one hemisphere to another; but how much greater 
a step, in magnetic and moral progress is it, if through 
electric detonations, mortals can receive messages from 
beneficent Spirits of the invisible world, which, it has 
ever been supposed, could only be communicated with, 
through that dreaded change men call death. 

" The times have been 
That when the brains were out, the man would die ; 
And there an end ; — but now they rise again." 

And will it not be a glorious era, when the world 
shall recognize this truly, and men believe, philosophi- 



05 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



cally, that when our friends are silent in the clay, 

" They do not die 
Nor lose their mortal sympathy, 
Nor change to us, although they change." 

The communications reported in the foregoing pages, 
purporting to have come from the Spirit- world, do not 
teach great scientific truths — they announce no new 
geological theories — they point out no planets which the 
Ross telescope has not yet discovered — they do not lo- 
cate a new golconda in any portion of the globe; and 
if they did, what then 1 Where could be found the 
crazed individual that would give the revelation confi- 
dence for one moment. Is it not enough that the new 
philosophy has to contend against an impression, well- 
nigh as hoary with age as Time, that when the body 
dies, the Spirit knows no more of earth forever, and, 
perchance, knows nothing, until a day of general resur- 
rection — it may be millions of ages yet beyond the 
nineteenth century. 

It is indeed a hard fight to do successful battle, even 
against such superstition as Shakspeare describes, when 
he makes the philosophic Dane say 

" that the dread of something after death — 

The undiscovered country from whose bourne 
No traveler returns, — puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 
Than fly to others that we know not of. 

It will be a great advance in Spiritual recognition, 
when one-third of the people shall believe that the 
Spirits of the departed can visit earth and "do some- 
thing here." 

Again, the Spirits communicating, as we have re- 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 69 

ported, have not generally been those of men who were 
leaders in this world — men who had comprehensive 
views — and they have been privileged to communicate 
only in private circles ; and such communications were 
made as were best calculated to impress the persons ad- 
dressed, that they came from the Spirits of those whom 
they had known in this world. 

A stumbling-block in the way of many who might 
recognize the " manifestations," but who know nothing 
of magnetism and its wonders, is the fact that all people 
do not have " revealments" — that the sounds are not 
heard in all circles. 

Clairvoyants call the Spirits electric beings. We 
know that natural electricity always travels with a 
spiral movement, so to speak, in circles. It never 
leaves home till there is a way to get back, It is clair- 
voyant impression, that circles in the Spirit-world are 
operating on circles in this world, through electric 'medi- 
ums.' They can only be brought within " manifesting" 
communion by means of magnetic attraction, Franklin 
might have stood in the field and heard the thunder roll 
and watched the lightning flash, for an age, without 
" manifestations" from it ; but when he threw his kite 
upon the breeze and it was borne near the thunder-laden 
cloud, a medium was established : then when his knuckle 
touched the key at the end of the string, the electric 
spark — the " manifestation" — was recognized by him. 

Roman mythology teaches that Jupiter was the God 
of Thunder, and that from the top of mighty Olympus 
he hurled his fiery bolts upon the subjects that offended 
him — for punishment and to show his power, he pro- 



70 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



duced electric detonations that alarmed the world. If 
clairvoyant "revealments" be well founded, Spirits of 
the. other world have the power of thunder in a pro- 
scribed form, and they are making electric detonations 
not to alarm, not to excite, but to quiet ; and when im- 
pressions that cling tenaciously, because they " have 
come down from former generations/' are removed, and 
mankind will acknowledge the immediate relations of 
the Spiritual to the physical world, communications are 
to come, according to the declaration of Spirits who now 
Rap, which will lead mind, while it sojourns in the body, 
into the arcana of nature so minutely and consistently, 
that the mysteries of mentality shall all be demonstrated. 

To those who accept the orthodox belief, that Heaven 
is a place to which the Spirit must travel, as on a jour- 
ney, it is a striking proposition that the life- hereafter of 
their friends departed from earth, is in any manner of 
communion with their thoughts or emotions — that there 
should be an invisible world inhabited by Spirits around 
our world, is an idea preposterous — Angel visits to 
earth are " few and far between," and can never be, 
only under special dispensation of Jehovah, when He 
has a divine message to man. 

What is the Invisible world ? Mrs. Crowe's idea, in 
her "Night side of Nature," is one of rationality. She 
says : 

" With respect to the term, invisible world, I beg to 
remind my readers, that what we call seeing, is merely 
the function of an organ constructed for that purpose, 
in relation to the external world ; and so limited are its 
powers, that we are surrounded by many things in that 



CINCINNATI RAPPINGS. 71 

world which we cannot see without the aid of artificial 
appliances, and many other things which we cannot see 
even with them ; the atmosphere in which we live, for 
example, although its weight and mechanical forces are 
the subjects of calculation, is entirely imperceptible to 
our visual organs. Thus the fact that we do not com- 
monly see them, forms no legitimate objection to the 
hypothesis of our being surrounded by a world of Spirits, 
or of that world being inter-diffused among us." 

To the uncultivated mind, a detailed account of the 
wonderful "sights" of the microscope, is as much like a 
fable or a delusion, as to the minds of people generally,, 
clairvoyant views of the Spirit-world have ever been. 
Magnetism is the microscopic lens which opens to the 
mind's eye, views of the Spiritual world. In all circles 
where the " rapping" communications are given, pow- 
erful magnetic influences, independent of the company 
of embodied Spirits, are always at work, and all easily 
impressed persons recognize them. 

In a pamphlet published by Eliab W. Capron and 
Henry D. Barron, of Auburn, N. Y., which gives many 
most interesting and convincing particulars, in relation 
to the " mysterious noises," much evidence, in support 
of our impressions on this point, is presented. We quote 
a paragraph from page 69. 

'•This feeling of electricity seems to pervade nearly 
everything connected with these phenomena. When 
the rapping is heard, the peculiar jar is felt — differing 
from the jar produced by a blow — and in various other 
ways we are reminded of the use of this subtle agent. 
We often see in a dark room, bright electric flashes on 



72 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

the wall and other places. We, and all who have taken 
pains to get at the truth of all these demonstrations, 
have frequently had a hand laid on their arms, shoul- 
ders or head, when no person would or could do it, 
having all their hands held by each other. These de- 
monstrations, like the others, generally leave a feeling 
of electricity where they touch. The hand feels much 
like one who is in a magnetic sleep, being colder (gen- 
erally) than the hand of persons in a normal state, and 
having a moisture like a cold perspiration upon it. 
There is not, usually, any feeling like that of a hard 
hand, or one made up with the usual amount of bones 
in it." 

Further consideration of these topics will be had in 
the succeeding Parts of this work. 



THE 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



PART I. 



We know in day-time there are stars abont ns 

Just as at night, and name them what and where, 

By sight of science ; so by faith we know, 

Although we may not see them till our night, 

That Spirits are about us, and believe, 

That to a Spirit's eye all Heaven may be 

As full of Angels as a beam of light 

Of motes. Festus. 

" Could we lift the fleshy veil, 

Could we for a moment witness 
Those unnumbered hosts that stand, 
Calm and bright, on either hand ; 
Oh, what joyful hope would cheer ! 

Oh, what faith serene would guide us ! 
Oh, what reverent heed would then 
Watch our footsteps among men !" 



CLAIRVOYANT "RE VE ALMENTS." 



By the term " clairvoyant revealments," as employed 
in the caption to this Part of our book, we mean princi- 
pally, such revelations as have been made to clairvoy- 
ants by the communion of thought with thought. Many 
interesting communications have been made to us by 
clairvoyants, which they declaied were at the dictation 
of Spirits they saw, and by whom they were magnet- 
ically impressed. Of these and various non-communi- 
cative physical demonstrations, we now propose speaking. 
6 



74 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



On Thursday evening, October 17th, while Mrs. Bush- 
nell was the medium of communication by means of 
raps, for a circle, a sentence, purporting to be from the 
Spirit of John P. Cornell, was spelled out, which de- 
clared Mrs. Bushnell would be magnetized by him in 
two minutes and a half, and that he would speak through 
her to the circle. 

Precisely at the time appointed, Mrs. B. was thrown 
with a shock into the magnetic state. She sat upright, 
and said, " I am Mr. Cornell." Her bearing is reported 
to have been precisely that of the gentleman while in 
life. He spoke through the magnetic subject upon mat- 
ters of business in which his friends were interested; 
replied to many questions relating to the condition of 
Spirits in the other world, and then said that as there 
were persons present who wished to communicate with 
friends, he would retire for an hour, when at a signal, 
he would again magnetize Mrs. B. 

When Mrs. B. was relieved from the magnetic influ- 
ence, nothing was said to her, by the company, of what 
had been communicated through her. At the conclu- 
sion of an hour, the signal — a distinct rap — was given. 

"There's the signal," said one of the company. 

" What signal?" said Mrs. B. 

No reply was made, and in a second, she was again 
thrown into the clairvoyant state. The Spirit of Mr. C. 
again communicated through her. He told what his 
business had been in this world, and what his objects 
were in these communications. After a very interesting 
lecture on Spiritualism, he said that demonstrations of 
the kind just witnessed, would be frequently mani- 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 75 



fested, and people would be much instructed by them. 

About this time, Mrs. Bushnell's health became much 
impaired. One evening, as she was passing from one 
room to another, in the house at which she boarded, a 
very loud rap was heard on the door near her. She 
started, as if suddenly shocked — in a second became 

rigid, and said — " Dr. , why do you magnetize 

me ?" (referring to the person by whom she was first 
magnetized, several years deceased.) 

She was silent a moment, and then said — " He tells 
me I work too hard. 1 am magnetized too often. T 
will kill myself. I will wake in thirty seconds." 

At the expiration of this period she was relieved, and 
inquired of the company if they could tell who had 
magnetized her. What she had said was repeated, and 
she was urged to heed the advice given. Her friends 
in this world had frequently told her the same thing, 
but she did not regard their counsel. 

On Friday evening, October 25th, we witnessed a 
second manifestation of the character first spoken of. 
Mrs. Bushnell had been talking about Spiritual matters 
in the clairvoyant state for half an hour, when she de- 
clared that a Spirit wi-hed to make her a direct medium 
of communication. She was aroused from the magnetic 
state, and conversed some ten minutes with a gentleman 
who sat near her, when, in the middle of a sentence, 
she ceased speaking — started with a shock, and instantly 
her limbs became rigid, as those of persons under the 
influence of magnetism generally do. In a few mo- 
ments, Mrs. B. began to talk, and speaking in the first 
person, she lectured for fifteen minutes on subjects 



76 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

which we know were the favorite topics, in life, of 
the man, whose Spirit she declared had magnetized 
her. 

It will be remembered that in Part II. on the " Myste- 
rious Noises," we spoke of a lady whose arm was sudden- 
ly drawn back, as it was stated by raps, at the will, or 
by the power of a Spirit. Subsequently, this lady was 
frequently thrown into the clairvoyant state by what pur- 
ported to be Spiritual influences. 

A few evenings after the " manifestation," through 
Mrs. Bushnell, above related, while Mrs. B., in a clair- 
voyant state, under our influence, was lecturing in a 
private circle on Spiritualism, a gentleman undertook to 
magnetize the lady referred to, when, with a shock, she 
was taken from under his influence. She arose from 
her seat, walked across the room to where Mrs. Bush- 
nell was sitting, and placed her hand upon the lecturer's 
head. We directed Mrs. B.'s attention to her. She 
said the lady was magnetized by a Spirit, and would 
wake in a minute. Presently the lady started and 
awoke, much astonished to find herself at the side of 
the room opposite that on which she had seated herself, 
when Mrs. Bushnell was magnetized. We requested 
Mrs. Bushnell to ask the Spirit to magnetize the lady 
again, and will her to remember what she saw. In an- 
swer to this, Mrs. B. said the lady would be thrown into 
the magnetic state in two minutes. At the expiration of 
the time precisely, the lady received a shock. She 
slept two minutes, awoke, and described what she had 
seen as a face peering through fleecy clouds. The fea- 
tures, as described, were those of John P. Cornell. The 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMEXTS. 77 



lady never saw him while living, we are confident from 
personal knowledge. 

On the morning following these developments, Mrs. 
Bushnell was making a medical examination for the 
lady who had been Spiritually magnetized, when she 
said to her in our presence — u Here is that gentleman 
that magnetized you. You will go to sleep to-night at 
eight o'clock, and will see your sister's spirit: and you 
will go to sleep also at 8 o'clock on Monday night next." 

The lady was entirely skeptical on the matter ? and 
declared positively, at half-past 7 o'clock on Saturday 
evening, that she had no idea of going to sleep : but 
precisely at eight, she received a shock, and passed into 
a magnetic sleep. While she was in this state, she wept 
freely, and shook her head frequently, but would not 
converse. She slept fifteen minutes, as Mrs. Bushnell 
said she would, and when she awoke, stated that she 
had seen her sister and two gentlemen ; and the reason 
she wept was because, when she endeavored to embrace 
her sister, she receded. On being asked why she shook 
her head with such determination, she replied that the 
Spirits wished her to be a medium of communication by 
sounds, and she refused. 

On Monday evening, at precisely 8 o'clock, the lady's 
appearance gave evidence that she was impressed, but 
she so sternly resisted the influence, that she did not go 
to sleep for half an hour. 

She slept about fifteen minutes, and when she awoke, 
said that she had seen the Spirits" of her father and 
sister, and described the one that magnetized her pre- 
cisely as she had previously done. That there was no 



78 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

deception on the part of this lady, we are confident. 
We know her to be one of those women whose noble- 
ness of mind never can permit them to descend to base 
deception and low trickery ; and we are satisfied that 
Mrs. Bushnell did not affect her, because Mrs. B. is 
much more susceptible to magnetic influences than she 
is, and can be magnetized by her, as had previously 
been ascertained by experiment. We do not give her 
name in this history, because she does not wish it 
known, as she has never, in any way, been publicly con- 
nected with magnetism or clairvoyance, although she 
has long been a clairvoyant of remarkable independence 
and power in many respects. 

We were, one afternoon, about the first of November, 
in a company assembled to hear a gentleman clairvoy- 
ant of this city — a man generally esteemed and every- 
where regarded sincere — report his impressions of Spirit- 
ual existences and their influences ; when he explained 
to the company that he was taught by the Spirits of 
those who had tasted the bitter fruits of the life we im- 
patiently lead, and who had vowed that after death, if it 
were their privilege, they would revisit earth and im- 
press the mortals they had left behind, that there is 
Spiri'ual watchfulness over, around, and about them, 
seeking to purify and elevate. 

The demonstrations that had been, and were being 
made, were designed to prepare the human mind for high- 
er and holier — more immediate— heavenly "manifes- 
tations." From the throne of God, through Christ and 
the Spirits of "just men made perfect," light was now 
flowing to circles of the Spirit-world, which could com- 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 79 

municate with the earth-born, and which were endeavor- 
ing to lead men to close communion with them, that 
there might be established, upon our planet, an order of 
society that would lead its inhabitants nearer and nearer 
to the sphere of those beings who enjoy the almost im- 
mediate presence of Jehovah. 

Through the crude impulses of true general reform, 
now agitating the world, these Spiritual circles had 
operated, until the period had arrived at which it was 
proper that direct and definite " manifestations" should 
be made. They had been made to a great extent in the 
eastern portions of our country, and were spreading 
through the western portions. This was new soil — 
here prejudices were not as deeply rooted as in older 
established countries — here were more honest inquiring 
minds — in Cincinnati, the highest demonstrations were 
to be made. Within a few months there were to be 
Spiritual " manifestations," which the mass of the people 
should recognize — should know to be from the Spirit- 
world. 

The " manifestations" that had been made, and those 
which were immediately to follow, with convicting 
power, were forerunners of that time prophesied in holy 
writ, as the second coming of Christ. He would be mani- 
fested with his holy angels through those circles of spirits s, 
which shall cause the demonstrations spoken of. We 
were opening upon the great era of the world's history. 
There were coming up in the vista of the future, great 
poets, orators and writers, who would dwell, with won- 
derful power, beauty and majesty, upon the era just 
opening. 



80 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



These were decided clairvoyant impressions, reported 
in an emphatic manner. Note was made by us of 
them, and they were published in the Daily Times. 
Much discussion was had about them in our city, and 
they were copied into several religious papers, and se- 
verely commented upon, as the teachings oflying spirits 
— of devils. As these discussions spread, " talk" was 
created about the strange things happening in these 
u latter days," and reports were started of" other mani- 
festations" in various quarters of the city. We heard 
of many that could not be relied upon ; but among those 
which came from creditable sources, the most singular 
was the following : 

We are not at liberty to give names or localities, but 
we can state that it is some two years since the " man- 
ifestations" were first witnessed. 

A mother, who had a mother's strongest affection for 
her children, was, by disease, brought near the change 
called death. When about to leave this world, she re- 
quested her husband never to marry again, because the 
children might be abused by a step-mother ; and she 
declared that if he did marry, and the children were 
abused, she would haunt the house, if her Spirit lived 
after the death of the body and had power to be on the 
earth. 

In due course of time, the husband did marry, and 
the children were not treated as their deceased mother 
would have treated them. Tasks were put upon them 
which they were unable to perform in the time allotted. 
Many times they have retired to bed, leaving their work 
half done. The house was locked — no person could 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMEXTS. 81 

easily gain admittance — there are no known somnam- 
bulists in the family- — no noises were heard in any part 
of the house ; but the children's tasks have repeatedly 
been mysteriously completed when the family arose in 
the morning. 

During the week on which these things were reported 
to us, various " manifestations" were made about the 
house — tables moved, rooms swept, &e. One night, the 
kitchen table was moved back by an invisible power. 
Another time, the family retired to bed, leaving the 
chairs standing promiscuously about the sitting room. 
The first person who arose in the morning, found them 
all in proper order against the wall. 

Many singular " manifestations'' have been made, 
which could not have been produced by common mortal 
agencies. Others might readily have been made by 
any person acquainted with the peculiar circumstances 
of the family. 

When we heard of these " manifestations," we con- 
sulted a clairvoyant in reference to them. She de- 
scribed them, without previous knowledge, as they had 
been described to us, and gave the locality of the house 
in which they were made, when, at the time, we did not 
know where the house was situated. 

These " manifestations" are something similar to those 
that have been made, in the house of E,ev. Mr. Phelps, 
of Stratford, Connecticut, for a number of months, and 
about which, there has been so much said in the news- 
papers. Those of which we speak, have been, however, 
if at all, for a definite purpose, understood and talked 
about in the family. Mr. Phelps declares that he can 



82 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

conceive no reason why the demonstrations should be 
made at his house. He is as much at a loss to account 
for them, as a man residing in a small village on the 
Ohio river, near Wheeling, Va., to account for de- 
monstrations made at his house, in October last, as re- 
ported by him to a friend of our acquaintance, in Cin- 
cinnati. 

He said there was a room in the house, in which all 
kinds of strange capers were cut up. He determined to 
find the cause, if possible. He examined the room till 
he was satisfied there could be no mortal in it. He 
then locked the door and put the key in his pocket. 
Presently he heard strange noises. It seemed as if 
somebody was turning everything upside down. He 
entered the room suddenly — everything was in confu- 
sion — and an old broom-stick, with a ragged bonnet 
upon it, was dancing about the floor. He was dumb- 
founded. When relating the affair, he said — " I tell 
you the thing as it happened ; you can take it for what 
it is worth. I'll take my oath, I saw what I tell you ; 
but I don't believe a bit of it myself." 

In Salem Witchcraft times, what a terrible excite- 
ment occurrences of this character would have created 
in a country village. 

One evening, in the second week of November, we 
had an opportunity to make some clairvoyant investiga- 
tions, when the person magnetized began to speak of, and 
describe Spirits about her. 

She described, accurately, Manley Chapin, a lawyer 
of Cincinnati, who died of cholera in the summer of 
1849 ; John K. Lord, Pastor of the First Orthodox Con- 



CLAIRVOYANT REYEALMENT3. 83 



gregational Church, Cincinnati, who also died of cholera, 
in the summer of 1849 ; Moses Cornell, and John P., of 
whom we have previously several times spoken. She 
had never seen either of these persons in life, excepting 
Mr. Lord. Her descriptions of all of them were very- 
graphic. Mr. Chapin was a man of peculiarities. She 
pictured them in a striking manner. At this time, she 
also saw Rev. James H. Perkins, the well known Philan- 
thropist and popular Unitarian preacher. His peculiar 
state of mind at the time of his death, was referred to, 
and the statement made that though he drowned him- 
self, he did not commit suicide. 

It was stated that he was impressing individuals to 
carry out the benevolent and philanthropic movements in 
which he had been engaged on earth : that he had led a 
distinguished divine of this city, who occupies a peculiar 
position in reference to the church, (Rev. T. H. Stock- 
ton) that he drowned himself under the influence of a 
sudden freak, caused by an over action of his mental 
powers — a mental impulse to accomplish more than was 
within the power of the physical man, and that his death 
was not to be lamented. 

Mr. Perkins's personal appearance and manner were 
accurately described, and we well know that the clair- 
voyant — the lady of whom we have repeatedly spoken 
as impressible to Spiritual influences — never saw Mr- 
Perkins to know him, while he sojourned in the body on 
this earth. 

A few days after we had this interview, we met an- 
other clairvoyant, a Mrs. P., an elderly lady, who stated 
that she had seen and- recognized many Spirits while in 



84 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

the clairvoyant si ate, and that when free from magnetic 
influence, she had often, within the last two years, had 
demonstrations from her deceased son. He was distant 
from her on the night of his death, and at the time, she 
told a lady living with her, that she knew her son had 
died within twenty-four hours, because she had seen him 
a corpse. The sad intelligence come by due course of 
the common modes of the conveyance of news, and Mrs. 
P.'s impressions were verified — her son died on the night 
she saw him in his grave clothes. Since that time, she 
says, he has made numerous "manifestations" to her. 
She declares herself confident that he is with her always. 

A Miss B , residing on Cutter street, Cincinnati, 

has, within a year, had a number of " manifestations, " 
which she declares she is impressed most powerfully, 
were from friends who have gone before her to the Spirit- 
world. 

A Miss , of Cincinnati, living on Eighth street, 

has heard, within six months, a number of "mysterious 
noises." She expresses herself convinced that no human 
agency produced them. 

A few weeks since, " manifestations' ' were made to a 
Mr. W , of our city, which struck him as very sin- 
gular, and which were singular, because similar l( mani- 
festations' ' were made to his wife, and neither knew of 
the other's experience until they compared notes. 

We mention these things only in support of clairvoyant 
revelations, east and west, that the "manifestations" are 
not to be confined to particular persons nor particular 
places. 

On the evening spoken of in Pajrt II. of the first Sec- 



CLAIRVOYANT KEVEALMENTS. 85 



tion of this work, when our brother James communicated 
to us, by raps, a lady in the circle, whom we shall call 
Mrs. A., was told, by a rap-sentence, that within one day 
she would see her brother-in-law. 

About three o'clock, the following morning, when per- 
fectly awake, she saw a light in her room, which she 
knew was not caused by any common agencies. She 
was sceptical, and endeavored, by every possible means, 
to account, rationally, for the " manifestation, " without 
ascribing it to Spiritual influences, but was unable to 
satisfy her mind, and, on meeting us, she requested us to 

visit Mrs. Bushnell, and ask her if she, Mrs. A , 

had ever had any " manifestations/' She did not tell us 
what she had had, nor give her reasons for the request. 
We called on Mrs. B., and when in the clairvoyant state, 
she gave a description which compared, in all particu- 
lars, with the one given by the lady, of her vision to us 
afterwards. Since that night, this lady has had a num- 
ber of "manifestations.'' She has seen the strange light 
in different parts of her room, and has heard raps upon 
the table, ceiling, wall and floor, when she was alone. 

A Mrs. C , relates to us that one evening, after 

she had retired to bed, a hand was placed upon her side 
in such a manner as to hold the bed-clothing. She re- 
quested that if she were not deceived, the impression 
would remain till she slept. When she was lost in for- 
getfulness, the clothes were still held. She says it was 
no illusion. She felt the hand as distinctly as if one from 
a coporeal body had been placed there. A clairvoyant 
has since told her that it was the hand of her father, 
who watches over her little son. 



86 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

A Mrs. A., informs us that one evening, after havino- 

been making clairvoyant investigations, a candle, sitting 
upon her table, was lighted, and blown out again twice, 
by some mysterious agency. The flame was very dif- 
ferent from any one she had ever seen before. On the 
same night, she saw a spectral light in her room, which 
she was impressed was exhibited by Spiritual influences. 

A few weeks since, a Mrs. P , who has never 

been clairvoyant, visited Mrs. Bushnell, and her little 
boy, some months deceased, was perfectly described to 
her. On returning home she was thinking intently of 
her babe, and desired, if he was with her, that some 
"manifestation" be made — when her dress was gently 
pulled to one side, as if some one had taken hold of it 
with thumb and finger. She was alone, and she knows 
her dress was not moved by imagination — that some- 
times very wild, again, very tame — sometimes very im- 
potent, and again, all-powerful attribute of the human 
mind. 

One evening, while a number of ladies and gentlemen 
were making clairvoyant investigations, a lady, who was 
entirely sceptical in reference to the " rapping V 1° test 
the matter, after a few sounds had been heard, requested, 
mentally, that if the Spirits of her children were present, 
they would make it known to her. She heard no sounds, 
but felt distinct vibrations under her feet. She thought 
it a delusion, and repeated the questions. Again she 
felt the vibrations. Still she was not satisfied, and again 
put the question, mentally, with the same result. In a 
short time, the clairvoyant spoke of the children of this 
lady, and described them — said they had made "mani- 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 87 

festations," and pointed out what she had felt. The lady 
was astonished, and at once renounced her scepticism. 

We know a woman who has had a cough of ten years 
standing, cured, by what she declares she knows to have 
been Spiritually magnetic influences upon her. Clair- 
voyants have described her as under Spiritual influences. 

A young man of our acquaintance, who was an infidel, 
and who was going to the grave on account of a bowel 
complaint, was brought under electrical influences, in 
connection with a clairvoyant — had messages from the 
Spiritual world, and felt the influence of magnetism, for 
which the clairvoyant was a medium ; and he has been 
cured, mentally and physically — his health is restored, 
and he is now a firm believer in Spiritual existences, and 
their power to "manifest" on earth. 

A few weeks since, a gentleman of our acquaintance, 
a clairvoyant, was in a promiscuous company, when, for 
a moment, he appeared abstracted, then he started to 
his feet, and exclaimed to his wife, ''some one is picking 
my trunk." His wife wished him to go into the internal 
condition and follow out the impression ; but he said it 
was unpleasant, and he wished to drive it from his mind. 
He did not believe much had been taken. 

On the night in question, a room, some 80 or 90 miles 
distant, in which his wife had a lot of valuable goods, 
was forcibly entered, and a trunk, precisely of the de- 
scription of one belonging to him individually, was 
broken open, and a few things stolen; but many valua- 
bles were left unmolested. This is a remarkable coinci- 
dence, to say the least. 

Many " coincidences" of this character have been pub- 



88 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

lislied. It is unnecessary to refer to them generally, but 
it may not be inappropriate to quote the following, as 
they are " coincidences," observed in the fall of 1850 : 

"Singular. — The 'Boston Transcript' mentions, as a 
well authenticated fact, that a young lady in that city 
had a frightful dream, on a Saturday night, that her 
absent brother had been killed, and she saw his body 
dreadfully mangled. She awoke, by her cries, a lady 
who slept next her, to whom she related her dream. 
The lady endeavored to soothe her fears, and finally per- 
suaded her to retire once more to bed, and try to forget 
the dream . The next Monday morning, the young lady 
received a telegraphic despatch, announcing that her 
brother, a brakeman on the Western Railroad, had fallen 
from the cars on one of the freight trains, and been 
run over and instantly killed. The accident happened 
about the time of the dream." 

The ' Portland Pleasure Boat' adds — " The above is 
singular only so far as people are Spiritually blind. If 
mankind were in that state that it is their duty and 
privilege to be in, they would see occurrences like the 
above, when awake. But the animal nature rules the 
Spiritual. It is only when it is jaded out, and falls asleep, 
that the Spirit can rise above it, and even then, it is fet- 
tered in its action by the gross sensuality of the body. 

"If all people would live aright, they could, with 
Spiritual eyes, see absent friends, when in trouble, as 
clearly as they can see their bodies with the outer eye, 
when near. This is singular only because man is not 
what he should be. The body rules and rides the Spirit ; 
whereas the Spirit should rule and ride the body." 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 89 

"A Dream Verified. — Messrs. Fuller & Colton, 311 
Washington street, left their store at 1 2 o'clock at night, 
for their sleeping apartments, in Summer street. During 
the night, Mr. Colton dreamed that their store was broken 
into by robbers, who were stealing silk cravats. So 
powerfully was his mind wrought upon by this vision, 
that he became almost crazed, and jumped up and caught 
hold of his partner, (who was asleep in the same room,) 
thinking he was the man. Mr. Fuller told him he was 
crazy ; that he was dreaming, &c, and induced him again 
to go to sleep. In a few moments the same scene was 
again enacted. 

The next morning, when these gentlemen went to their 
store, they found it had been broken open during the 
night, and fifteen hundred dollars in goods stolen — and 
more than a thousand dollars in silk cravats!- — Boston 
Transcript" 

A gentleman of our acquaintance, Mr. W., was, one 
evening, in consultation with a clairvoyant, when she said 
to him — " Here is your grand-mother. She tells me that 
she has often made " manifestations" to you. She called 
you once when you were a boy, at work in the corn- 
field. She has shown you lights. You have been 
frightened by them. You need not be alarmed." 

The gentleman was much astonished. He states that 
when a boy, he often saw strange lights, and that they 
alarmed him, He was, one day, at work in the corn- 
field, when his name was distinctly called. He en- 
deavored, in every way, to ascertain from whence the 
call proceeded, but without success. He was impressed 
at the time, that there was somethtng peculiar about it. 



90 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

and he had never mentioned it even to his mother or 
wife. It had passed from his memory, and was recalled 
by the clairvoyant. 

A lady of this city heard strange noises about her, 
several years ago, and remarked, at the time, that she 
believed she was sometimes impressed by Spiritual influ- 
ences that would one day be recognized. When ac- 
counts of the "Rochester Knockings" were published, 
she said to her daughter — M There, did I not tell you 
that God would bring it out all in his own good time." 

We could fill many pages with details of this charac- 
ter, but must hasten to a conclusion. 

Pythagoras taught, and many of the ancients believed 
in the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul. There 
were countless clearly apparent absurdities connected 
with it; but in this, as in many other doctrines expounded 
by the philosophers before Christ, were there not some 
glimmerings of truth ? Who has not wondered at the 
soul-sympathy human magnetism establishes and exhi- 
bits ? We have reported clairvoyant impersonations 
which seem almost like the transmigration of the soul. 
The proposition is a startling one — the spiritual essences 
of those who are known to have left the corporeal body, 
by means of the magnetic rapport, manifest themselves 
in other bodies, and speak as of themselves, by the or- 
gans of clay, to the friends who cannot see them in 
Spirit. When this shall be believed by the endorsers of 
the sciences that the world recognizes, will there not be 
an over-turning and an up-heaving of ancient forms and 
opinions ? 

Among the " manifestations' ' going to show that the 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 91 



u wonders" of which we hint may be what they appear, 
the following has importance : 

The son of a clairvoyant of our acquaintance, about 
six years of age, within a few weeks, has manifested a 
great passion for music. He teases his mother inces- 
santly for an old accordeon. When he is engaged forcing 
discordant sounds from it, he is perfectly contented. He 
will sit upon the floor for hours, and play with this in- 
strument. The passion was a sudden one, and his 
mother could not account for it, till one day, in company 
with a friend, when she entered the clairvoyant state, she 
saw the Spirit of an elderly man standing near her son. 
She turned to the friend and said — " Here is a man who 
tells me he is your father. He is impressing my boy. 
It is that which gives him such a passion for the accor- 
deon. ,, 

" Describe him," said her friend. 

A satisfactory description was given, when the friend 
remarked — 

"It would be just like him if, in Spirit, he ever did 
anything in this world, for he was a great musician." 

The clairvoyant had never seen the father of this 
friend in our world, and knew nothing of his peculiari- 
ties. 

The friend asked the clairvoyant — 

" Has father any message to send me ?" 

" He wishes you to give your daughter an opportunity 
to study music. He does not wish the art to die out in 
the family." 

" I have intended to give her a musical education. I 
have a notion to buy a melodeon." 



92 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



" Your father tells me that he put the notion into your 
head," answered the clairvoyant. 

This " manifestation' ' is very similar to those witnessed 
by the Hutchinson family, when they conversed with 
Spirits at Rochester. Their friends in the Spirit-world 
sang the hymn "All is Well." Jesse Hutchinson writes 
to LaRoy Sunderland, Boston, Mass., that since this inter- 
view, his brother, Judson, who was falsely said to have 
been deranged by the influence of magnetism, " has had 
some most divine and heavenly revelations," in reference 
to music. 

The first time that we had rapping communication 
with our brother James, he said that he had made " man- 
ifestations" about our house — that he had rung our door- 
bell, and that he would make sounds frequently. The 
door-bell had rung, many times, when we knew there 
could be nobody near the door ; but we supposed that 
the rats caused the vibration, by running over the wire, 
and becoming accustomed to the sound, it did not annoy 
us. But if our supposition was correct, it was strange 
the bell never rung mysteriously until after there had 
been rapping "manifestations" at the house; and it is 
equally as strange that it has rung but a few times since 
we were told what caused it. It has rung many times 
under very peculiar circumstances, such as were calcu- 
lated to impress one that there was method in the mystery. 

This "manifestation" is not uncommon. We have 
reliable evidences that it has been witnessed at other 
houses in this city. 

At page 386 of her «' Night side of Nature," Mrs, 
Crowe says :— " I meet with numerous extraordinary 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 93 

records of a preternatural ringing of all the bells in a 
house ; sometimes occurring periodically for a considera- 
ble time, and continuing after precautions have been 
taken which precluded the possibility of trick or decep- 
tion — the wires being cut and vigilant eyes watching 
them ; and yet they rung by day or night, just the same." 

There have been many strange sounds heard at our 
house — in our particular room — at the desk on which this 
book was written — on the floor near it — on the table — on 
the wall, and on the ceiling. Our brother's signal we 
know to be three raps which have a peculiar sound. 
We have heard it in the night — on the floor, just as we 
have been retiring to bed — on the head of the bed and 
on the foot. Clairvoyants who have heard nothing about 
the a manifestation," have described it repeatedly. We 

have heard it, in company with Mrs. C , at several 

other places, as well as in our own room. We are told 
that it is intended to give us confidence that the Spirit of 
our brother is with us. We have never been able to 
communicate with him by raps, except in company with 
two or more clairvoyants. 

Much has been said in sermons about music in 
Heaven. When making clairvoyant investigations one 
evening, the clairvoyant began to beat time with her 
hand, as if she heard music. " Do you know what I 
did that for," said she. We answered that we should 
like to know ; when she replied — " My sister, whom I 
see in Spirit, is singing with your sister a beautiful song. 
I will sing with them." She immediately commenced 
and sang most beautifully, several stanzas of a song, 
entitled "The Infant's Dream." When she had con- 



94 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



eluded she said — " I could sing better than sister when 
she was in the body, but now she sings much better than 
I can. Oh, we shall all sing in the Spirit- world." 

Presently the clairvoyant was gently drawn to one 
side, and so much affected that the tears streamed from 
her eyes. She was drawn over her chair so far that 
she would have fallen to the floor, had she not been 
caught hold of and held up. When she recovered her- 
self, she said — " Sister had her arms around my neck 
and almost drew me over. It is strange she can touch 
me and I cannot touch her. 

This lady has several times since sang the song of 
the " Infant's Dream," in company with her Spiritual 
sisters. We copy several of the happiest verses of this 
song, believing that, in this connection, they will be read 
with interest. The infant is represented as telling a 
dream of Heaven to its mother. 

" Do you mind when sister Jane, mamma, 

Lay dead a short time agone, 
O, you gazed on that sad and lovely wreck 
With a full flood of wo you could not check ; 
And your heart was so sore you wished it would break, 

But you loved and you, aye, sobbed on. 

But O ! had you been with me, mamma, 

In realms unknown to care, 
And seen what I saw you ne'er had cried 
Though they buried pretty Jane in the grave when she died ; 
For shining with the blest and adorned like a bride, 

Sweet sister Jane was there. 

Do you mind that good old man, mamma, 

Who came so late to our door — 
The night was dark, and the tempest loud, 
And his heart was weak, but his soul was proud, 
And his ragged old mantle served for his shroud 3 

Ere the midnight watch was o'er 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 95 



And think what a weight of wo, mamma, 

Made heavy each loug-drawn sigh 
As the good man sat on papa's old chair 
While the rain dropped from his thin grey hair 
As fast as the big tear of speechless care 

Ran down from each glazing eye. 

And think what a heavenward look, mamma, 

Flashed through each trembling eye, 
As he told how he went to the Baron's stronghold, 
Saying O let me in for the night is so cold ; 
But the rich man cried go sleep in the fold, 

For we shield no beggars here. 

Well, he was in glory too, mamma, 

As happy as the blest can be ; 
He needed no alms in the mansions of light, 
For he sat with the patriarchs, clothed in white, 
And no seraph there had a crown more bright 

Or a costlier robe than he." 

One evening, when making investigations in Spiritual 
clairvoyance with this lady, a circle of friends, whom 
we have in the Spirit-world, was described, and the 
clairvoyant remarked — " Here is a little girl, your sister 
Annstress, who saw Spirits before she died. Oh ! she 
is so beautiful, so happy." 

The reference to this child's vision was correct. We 
recollect distinctly the story told at home about Ann- 
stress' strange vision before she died. About one year 
ago, we wrote an article for the Columbian and Great 
West, of Cincinnati, in reference to it. We have no 
doubt a majority of those who read it, supposed it a 
vagary^ written upon the Poem from which lines were 
quoted. The clairvoyant who described our sister, 
had seen the article, but did not know the child's 
name. It is proper to quote the article. It was en- 
titled 



96 SIGNS OF THE TIMES- 



THE AJVGEL VISITOR— A FRAGMENT. 



"It is a beautiful belief, 
That ever round the head 

Are hovering, on noiseless wing, 
The spirits of the dead." 



These lines, written by a christian philanthropist, 
Rev. James H. Perkins, whose sad end is not forgotten 
by the poor and unfortunate of Cincinnati, bring to my 
mind memories of a desolate heart, consoled with a 
mother's feeling in the 

" Beautiful belief, 

When ended our career 
That it will be our ministry 

To watch o'er others here. 

To bear away, from ills of clay , 
The infant to its Heaven" 

An only daughter, a sweet, meek-eyed child, one on 
whose golden hair the suns of but four summers had 
shone, met her mother on a Sunday afternoon, at the 
door of their home, as she returned from church, and 
with happiness beaming from every feature, lisped — 

" Oh ! mamma, I had such a pretty visitor, while you 
was at meeting. It had shining wings, mamma, and it 
flew in the door and sat by my little chair. Oh ! mamma, 
it was so handsome, and it said I would go to Heaven, 
and be like it. Don't you wish I was like it, mamma ? 

And the innocent prattler looked up into her mother's 
face, expecting a prompt answer, but she was disap- 
pointed, for the mother knew not what to think of the 
child's strange vision. 

In a few days the child sickened — the mother knew 
that a Spirit had come 

" To bear it away from ills of clay," 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 97 

and she bent over her couch, and the warm tear fell 
upon the child's fevered brow. 

" Do not cry, mamma," she said, " that little Angel has 
come for me, and I am going to Heaven. Oh ! mamma, 
there are other Angels with it, and they all hold out 
their hands for me. I must go, mamma. The little 
Angels will bring me to see you often." 

And with outstretched arms, as if to receive the an- 
gelic host, the Spiritual child was borne away to the 
" Father which is in Heaven," who said, "Suffer little 
children to come unto me." 

To that mother, is it not 

"A beautiful belief 

That ever round her head 
Is hovering, on noiseless wing, 

The Spirit of the dead." 

When the pure Spirit of James H. Perkins takes cog- 
nizance of things here below, must its joy not be seraphic, 
to witness the growth of the sentiment expressed in the 
Poem from which the lines above are quoted, written 
when the Poet's eye had waking vision, almost, of that 
which the world is now asked to recognize in the Rap- 
pings and in clairvoyant "manifestations." 

In this connection, the following extracts from Capron 
and Barron's pamphlet, will be read with interest. They 
are from E. W. Capron's private journal. All the 
phenomena there recorded took place in presence of a 
number of witnesses, who are ready to testify to the 
facts when called upon. The occurrences happened in 
Auburn : 

" Wednesday Evening, June 20th. — Present six per- 



98 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

sons, and none of the family of Mr. Fox in town. The 
rapping was heard very freely by all. The table moved 
on the floor with no person touching it — moved to the 
distance of a foot or more and back, in various direc- 
tions. At our request, the table, (which was a very 
light one,) was held down to the floor so that it required 
the whole strength of a man to move it from its position. 
We also held one side, and requested, if there was 
power to do it, that it would be drawn away from us ; 
this was done, and our strength was not sufficient to 
hold it." 

" Sunday Evening, Oct. 7th. — This evening we were 
directed to go into the hall and take the guitar. We 
went, and while there the guitar was played by unseen 
hands, and played so exquisitely too, that it seemed more 
like far distant music to one just aroused from midnight 
slumbers, than the music of an instrument a few feet 
from us. Several tunes were thus played, while not a 
person in the room knew how to play a tune on that or 
any other instrument." 

" Tuesday Evening, Oct. 16th. — Several persons pre- 
sent at the house of D. C. Miller. We were directed to 
take the guitar into a dark room and it would be played. 
We accordingly did so, and many tunes were played, 
and in such positions that we knew no one could do it if 
there had been any one present who knew how, but there 
was not. There were none there whc could play a tune 
in the light, much less in the dark, the owner not being 
there. Besides this, they, (the Spirits,) moved books 
and other articles to different parts of the room." 

" On one occasion, when several persons were present, 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 99 



the guitar was taken from the hands of those who held 
it, (they taking hold of hands,) and put in tune, and 
commenced playing while it passed around the room 
above their heads. It was also taken from one person 
and passed to others in the room. In this way, for 
nearly two hours, it continued to play and keep time 
with the singing; and the guitar taken by this unseen 
power to different parts of the room while playing. " 

" On one occasion we were getting the guitar played 
by these unseen musicians, and were directed to sing 
several different tunes, among which were " Get off the 
Track" and " The Old Granite State." The guitar was 
played as the song went on, in company with the voices. 
While it was playing, Dr. H. Robinson passed his hand 
over the whole length of the strings several times within 
half an inch of them, to see if it was possible that any 
one present was playing it and trying to deceive. There 
was no difference when he passed his hand over." 

"Not long since, Judge Hascall, of LeRoy, related to 
E. W. Capron a fact that came under his notice while 
examining into these phenomena in company with Mr. 
Summerfield, a lawyer of the same place, which strongly 
illustrates the power of whatever makes these sounds, to 
produce any sound by their will. He, (Judge H.,) stated 
that they were at the house of the Fox family and went 
into a dark room. They called for the sounds to be 
made like a band of martial music. As they requested, 
the sounds were produced in a most beautiful and thrill- 
ing manner. The playing of the instruments and the 
heavy beating of the base drum was perfectly imitated, 
together with the sound of the roar of distant cannon. 



100 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Both Mr. Summerfield and Judge Hascall agreed in say- 
ing that the whole thing was so truthfully and exactly 
imitated that the effect produced on the hearers was of 
the most thrilling character." 

We previously mentioned the lectures of Rev. J. P. 
Stuart, of the Cincinnati New Church. He gave his 
views clearly on the philosophy of such " manifesta- 
tions" as those we have just quoted. These physical 
demonstrations have excited great wonder. Forgetting 
what was done by Angels, as recorded in holy writ, 
men cry out fiercely against any account of the moving 
of tables, the opening or shutting of doors, the ringing 
of bells, etc. Mr. Stuart's views are profitably sugges- 
tive. We give extracts from a report by the Editor of 
the Daily Times : 

" Mr. Stuart holds that in times long gone by, it was 
common for Angels and Spirits to speak to the human 
race, and by means of their messages, prophets and 
apostles had communication with the Spiritual world. 
The Abrahamie dispensation is strongly marked by mi- 
raculous communications with Spirits by means of in- 
spired prophets. Mr. Stuart cited the visit of the Angels 
to Lot, at Sodom, who struck the mob with blindness. 
The fact that they were Angels was no hinderance to 
the exercise of their power among men. A man may 
work with a sledge-hammer — an Angel with the es- 
sences of the same, the galvanic and electrical attrac- 
tion and repulsion. The case of Balaam, when he 
went with the princes of Moab, can only be explained, 
if explained at all, by the doctrine, that brute beasts and 
brute matter have Spiritual essences and forces as their 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 101 

inner forms, and that into these there may be the play 
of Spiritual affinities— the flow of Spiritual intelligence. 

" Instances were given from the New Testament — the 
Angel rolling away the stone from the sepulchre and 
speaking to the women — the deliverance of the Apostles 
who had been cast into prison by the High Priest — ■ 
also, of Peter, whom Herod had imprisoned. By what 
means, then, may Angels exercise their pow r er in this 
outward world ? Evidently their power, however great, 
cannot flow down into uhimates without a medium, 
Then what is this medium of action ? How do Spirits 
act here 1 

'* Mr. Stuart advanced his own ideas on the subject, to 
excite investigation, as suggestive rather than dogmatic. 
It seems clear that an Angel or Spirit may see and feel 
the outward world by the transfer to himself of the sen- 
sation of one in the natural world, provided the Spiritual 
sight and perceptions of that one are opened, hut not other- 
wise. But even when a Spirit does perceive the objects 
of this world, then how shall he get hold of them and 
move them How can an Angel or Spirit unbar a bolted 
door, or roll away a stone 7 

" In the transfer of menial impressions, the Angel may 
possess himself most fully of all that the man has in his 
thought and in his memory. But neither thought, memo- 
ry, nor emotion, will enable a man to lift a rock— then 
how will these enable an Angel to do it ] It is said 
that the Angel flows into the sphere of the man's 
strength — but how ? we again ask. There are two 
worlds, the natural and the Spiritual, Angels and Spirits 
are in one, men in the other. The natural world is the 



102 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

world of effects, the causes of which are in the Spiritual 
world ; are we not warranted in going one step farther, 
and declaring that the essences of every object known 
here, and which in this world are hid, and even as 
Locke says, utterly unknown, that the essences are 
really the forms which the same objects have in the 
Spiritual world. There is here a block of iron, wood, 
or stone — this is an effect — this is the form of some 
essence. The cause of this effect, and the essence of 
this form are in the Spiritual world. If this be so, may 
we not go a step farther and declare that the form this 
object assumes in the Spiritual world is as cognizable 
there as the form, which it assumes here, is in this world, 
and that the Angel or Spirit whose thought is directed to 
it, sees the one as easily as we do the other ; moreover, 
may not the Angel handle and hold the essence and the 
cause of this real iron block, as readily and as familiarly 
as we do the actual iron block here. 

" Again, is not the one as much an object of sense in 
one world as in the other? And further, a change in 
the farm implies a corresponding change in the essence, 
and vice versa. From these premises the conclusion 
would be clear, but for a new element that here comes 
in. The Angels are not in the ideas of times and spaces 
that we are, and hence they cannot exert any power that 
involves these ideas, except the same medium will sup- 
ply them with the same. But it is known that these 
ideas are necessarily involved in the very constitution 
of the objects of the natural world, and hence, also, in 
every change that is effected in these objects. There- 
fore, although the Angels have power to mo e rocks, 



CLAIRVOYANT REVEALMENTS. 103 



&c, as readily and far more efficiently than we, still the 
very idea of moving a rock does not enter their minds, 
except by the perception of times and spaces, and this 
can only be effected by the Angels becoming adjoined 
to men, and the consequent transfer of their minds, &c. 

" These natural ideas the Angels may imbibe from 
man, while at the same time they hold their power over 
the essences and causes, and by this means are able to 
exert themselves among the objects of this world as di- 
rectly, and far more efficiently, than men can who 
are still in the body. The confirmation of this hypothe- 
sis is, that an angel does these things when he is in 
mental communication with some man." 

We will not attempt to consider Mr. Stuart's theory at 
length. His hypothesis that Angel-manifestations are 
made when the Spirit, distinct from the corporeal body, 
has mental communication with Spirit in it, is, we con- 
ceive, the correct theory. As previously explained, we 
regard the medium of communication electrical — mag- 
netic rapport bringing the Spiritual out of, and the Spirit- 
ual in the corporeal body, into direct communing rela- 
tions — and thus it is clairvoyants give to, and receive 
impressions from Angels. 

In this Lecture, Mr. Stuart should have defined his 
views upon Spirits or Angels. As reported, he leaves 
the reader to infer that he regards them as different 
classes of beings. The inquiring mind will desire to 
know definitely, whether he considers the Angels of 
which he speaks, the Spirits of men departed from this 
globe — the Spirits of beings who dwelt on other planets, 
or Spiritual beings created for, and never having ex- 



104 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



istence anywhere but in Heaven — the Spirit-world, 
It is the popular belief that Heaven was the dwelling- 
place of Angels ere man was created — Angels which 
were Heaven's native inhabitants, so to speak, and 
among which there was a rebellion that caused certain 
bad Spirits to be " cast out," who, with their leader — 
the ubiquitous Lucifer, that "gentleman in black," with 
fiery eyes, frightful horns, a cloven foot, and a tell-tale 
caudal extremity, who has been employed so much to 
frighten people into religious belief — were the earliest in- 
dwellers of what the Orthodox Church calls Hell. 

We know that Mr. Stuart entertains no views of this 
irrational description. He regards the Swedenborgian 
philosophy of Heaven and Hell the true one ; and it is 
Swedenborg revelation, emphatically, that all Angels, 
all Demons and all Devils, are from the human race, 
and once lived on this earth or some other earth in the 
universe — that future life is a continuation of the pre- 
sent — -that good men become Angels and evil men Devils. 
" The Scripture everywhere teaches that Angels are 
men, and that they are from the human race. Thus, of 
the three Angels that appeared to Abraham, it is said 
that, ■' He looked, and lo ! three men stood by him" 
When Jacob wrestled with the Angel, it is said that? 
M there wrestled a man with him tmtil the breaking of the 
day" When Joshua was at Jericho," he lifted up his 
eyes, and there stood a man over against him with a drawn 
sword in his hand" who declared himself to be the cap* 
tain of the hosts of the Lord, Of the Angel who ap* 
peared to the wife of Manoah, she said, " A man of God 
came to me f and his ccuntenance was like the countenance 



CLAIRVOYANT EEVEALMENTS. 105 

of an Angel of God." The M Angel Gabriel," who was 
sent to Daniel, is called the "man Gabriel." Zecha- 
riah saw a man riding upon a red horse, who is after- 
ward called the Angel of the Lord. When the women 
went to the sepulcher of the Lord, they saw, according 
to Luke, two men in shining garments, who according 
to John, were two Angels in white. In the Revela- 
tion, we learn that the Angel measured the wall of the 
New Jerusalem one hundred and forty-four cubits, " ac- 
cording to the measure of a man, that is the Angel." The 
Angel at whose feet John fell down to worship, said to 
him, u See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, 
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep 
the sayings of this book; worship God." 

These are quotations from Scripture which conflict 
most happily with the materiality and immateriality 
taught in orthodox creeds, and so blindly believed by 
orthodox schools. 

One of the happiest indications of the age, is the 
growing tendency to estimate doctrines according to their 
inherent truthfulness, judged by themselves and for 
themselves — not by old philosophies nor for the salva- 
tion of old opinions. That such influences may con- 
tinue to work with "power and might," is one among 
the fervent prayers we can utter for the support of light 
and truth. 

We do not believe that the indications of which we 
speak are false or ephemeral — they " grow with the 
growth and strengthen with the strength" of time; and 
unless all clairvoyance be delusion, they are, before 
many years, to make light and truth shine more tri- 



i 



106 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



umphantly than they have ever done. Earnest, zealous, 
intelligent and eloquent men are springing up in all 
parts of the country, with convincing evidence in defense 
of the new Spiritual Philosophy; and it is clairvoyant 
impression that Spirits are now impressing children in 
many families, who will grow up strong in the faith of 
this Philosophy, and who will fight against bigotry and 
prejudice, and enlist others to fight manfully, until a new 
order of things is established — until it shall be believed 
by the majority, that the Spirits of the earth-born, when 
the body dies, live still with the friends who continue to 
dwell in the flesh. Hasten the day, say we. We join 
most heartily in Tennyson's New Year song : 

" Ring out the grief that saps the mind 
For those that here we see no more, 
Ring out the fued of rich and poor, 
Ring in redress to all mankind. 

Ring out a slowly dying cause, 
And ancient forms of party strife, 
Ring in the nobler modes of life, 
With sweeter manners, purer laws.'' 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 107 



PART II. 



1t Know that to celestial eyes 

Divinest daylight never dies, 

And Saints defend the things they love 

As God protects the Saints above." Bailey, 

u There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamed of in yonr philosophy." Hamlit 



FACTS AND OPINIONS, 



The world is full of Horatios who never have, either 
sleeping or waking, visions or impressions of philosophy 
that is not favored with the mark of popular recognition, 

Believing that this work will go into the hands of 
many who need instruction, and of many who seek it, 
we shall give in this Part a compilation of facts and 
opinions on Spirituality, from reliable sources. 

We shall commence with selections from the Journal 
of Man, a periodical published in Cincinnati, which 
should be much more extensively read than it has been. 
If people generally would peruse its pages, and invests 
gate the subjects on which it teaches, much of the blind 
superstition now leading men astray, would vanish be- 
fore the light of rational mental philosophy. The Edi- 
tor of this Journal, Prof. J, R, Buchanan, Dean of the 
Eclectic Medical Institute, is an earnest and intellectual 
mokQX after truth, who has passed a " fiery ordeal," 



108 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



He knows what it is to defend an unpopular theory of 
mental relations and conditions, but he is now gaining 
ground every day ; and unless our calculations for the 
future, from the indications of the present, are entirely 
out of character, the time is coming when he will be 
regarded as a true philosopher by all thinking men in 
the established orders of Society, 

We say these things because we believe them, and 
because they are due a man who has fought many a 
hard fight for what the " wise people" of the world have 
been pleased to sneer at as " new fangled notions;" just 
as in olden time they sneered at Galileo's theory of the 
earth's revolution — at Harvey's opinions in reference to 
the circulation of the blood — at Newton's views of gravi- 
tation — at Franklin's speculations on electricity — at 
Fitch and Fulton's grand mechanical discoveries — at 
Gall and Spurzhiem, at Mesmer, at Swedenborg and 
Hahnneman — just as they sneer now, with " pious fer- 
vor," at the presumption of Spiritual communication to 
those who do not recognize God in the " questionable 
shapes" by which his attributes are presented in the 
acknowledged theology. 

We quote from the Journal of Man, for February, 

1850, on 

SPIRITUALITY. 

" Under the excitement of Spirituality, the mind is ele- 
vated to a more Spiritual state. Its attention turns away 
from gross matter, and it acquires an extraordinary power of 
recognizing mind, until at length even disembodied mind is 
distinctly perceived. Thus the subject will enter into com- 
munication with the dead and with various Spiritual beings, 
of whom he w T ill speak, and with whom he appears to hold 
an interesting intercourse. Sometimes he will report that he 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 109 



is too gross and incapable of this exalted communion — that 
Spiritual beings are beyond his reach, and will not commune 
with him. Mr. > a man of fine talent, but of little re- 
ligious faith, was astonished and overwhelmed when he first 
underwent this experiment, and perceived as holding an in- 
dependent existence, what he had before regarded as mere 
creatures of his own mind. He at length communed with 
his deceased father, but reported that his father now with- 
drew from him with a stern countenance, as if he was unfit 

for such association. Mrs. , a firm disbeliever of 

Christianity and of all Spiritualism, was overwhelmed with 
wonder and delight when I excited her Spirituality, and 
soon entered into familiar communication with various Spirit- 
ual beings. In some cases, her Spiritual vision was suffi- 
cient to enable her to describe correctly the appearance of 
deceased persons whom she had never seen or heard de- 
scribed. Many others, under these experiments, have re- 
ported communications held with the deceased, and some- 
times messages of advice, etc., have been sent t® their sur- 
viving friends. 

"A lady of great intelligence, moral worth and practical 
energy, told me confidentially that she had, for a great por- 
tion of her life, been subject to Spiritual visions which she 
dared not mention to any one, lest her sanity should be 
doubted. These celestial visitants came to her in the day- 
time when her mind was perfectly calm, clear and free from 
excitement: the communion was pleasant and elevating. 
They appeared to be angelic beings of an exalted nature, 
with whom she was conscious that she would in a future 
life become more intimate. Their visits occurred more fre- 
quently when her moral faculties were in their highest condi- 
tion, and became very rare when she became too much en- 
grossed in worldly affairs to the neglect of her duties. Dr. 
H., an intelligent practitioner of medicine in one of our At- 
lantic cities, believes himself to be in daily intercourse, of 
the most intimate character, with the Spirit of a departed 
friend. There are many who entertain the persuasion that 
they commune with the departed, who are unwilling to speak 
of a matter which they regard as sacred, and which they 
would not desecrate by exposure to idle comment. 

u The belief in guardian Spirits, which is expressed by poets 
and orators, with a half real, half metaphorical meaning, and 



110 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



which is to some a matter of religious sentiment, is sanctioned 
by the results of many experiments upon subjects in whom 
the Spiritual faculties have been excited. They have often 
spoken of guardian Spirits, who preside over particular per- 
sons; and sometimes specified certain influences exerted by 
them for their benefit. The guardian Spirit is most generally 
a deceased friend, and his influence is exerted through the 
minds upon which the Spiritual influence operates." 

We shall next give a few extracts from the published 
opinions of men who have never been in any manner 
connected with magnetic or clairvoyant investigations, 
or identified with psychological science. 

After the Misses Fox had visited New York, and he 
had had fair opportunities, at his own house, to hear the 
" Rappings," Horace Greeley wrote a carefully worded 
article for the Tribune, in which he said : 

11 He must be well acquainted with the arcana of the uni- 
verse, who shall presume dogmatically to decide that these 
" manifestations" are natural or supernatural. The ladies 
say that they are informed that this is but the beginning of a 
new era, or economy, in which Spirits, clothed in flesh, are 
to be more closely and palpably connected with those which 
have put on immortality — that the u manifestation*" have al- 
ready appeared in many other families, and are destined to 
be diffused and rendered clearer, until all who will, may 
communicate freely and beneficially with their friends who 
have i shuffled off this mortal coil.' Of all this we know 
nothing, and shall guess nothing. But, if we were simply to 
print, (which we shall not,) the questions we asked, and the 
answers we received, during a two hours 7 uninterrupted con- 
ference with the l Rappers/ we should at once be accused of 
having done so expressly to sustain the theory which regards 
these '•' manifestations" as the utterances of departed Spirits. 

N. P. Willis, in a handsome editorial in the Home 
Journal, after he had heard the " Rappings," said : 

" The suggestions and * outside' bearings of this matter are 
many and curious. If these knocking answers to questions 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. Ill 



are made, (as many insist.) by electric detonations, and if dis- 
embodied Spirits are still moving, consciously, among us, 
and have thus found an agent, at last, electricity, by which 
they can communicate with the world they have left, it must soon, 
in the progressive nature of things, ripen to an intercourse 
between this and the Spirit-world. * * * * 

" There seems an alphabet to learn, in this as in other new 
fields of knowledge; and, indeed, — considering the confu- 
sion of ideas in the minds of those who visit and try to talk 
off-hand, with these newly discovered l natives/" — it is won- 
derful that the l Knockers' make themselves as well under- 
stood as they already do. If Providence designed to subject 
an intelligent power to our service — (in addition to the unin- 
telligent miracle-workers, Steam and Electricity, which have 
successively been given us,) — the beginnings would, by all 
precedent, be at least as imperfect and dimly understood as 
these are." 

The following is an extract from a letter written by a 
gentleman in New York, to the Editor of the Sandusky 
(Erie Co. 0.) Democrat. The Editor endorses his cor- 
respondent's intelligence and candor. 

u Before closing this letter, I will add a word on the subject 
of the spiritual light, which many are expecting will soon illu- 
minate the world. Knowing your desire after truth. I will 
give you a word as to my own experience. A few days 

since in this city, I sat talking with the Hon. C L , 

of L . A boy come from the P. 0. and gave me a 

letter from brother L . Mr. L placed his hand on 

the letter, and bade me think intently of the writer, and shut- 
ting up his eyes, spelt out the name, commencing with the 
christian name. The same day, on relating this to an intelli- 
gent Quaker friend of mine, he informed me confidentially that 
the knockings were following his little brother and sister at 
his house. He gave me a most interesting relation, as fol- 
lows: " Last evening we sat down in my parlor, and my 
father-in-law, who is very aged, and a staunch Presbyterian, 
undertook to explore and explode these knockings. He in- 
quired if the spirit he was thinking of was present. There 
were three loud raps in reply. Now, says the old gentleman, 
if you are here, you know I am skeptical and cannot believe. 



112 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



Will you give me a special manifestation and spell out your 
own name. The raps spelt out " Clary. 77 Who is " Clary ?" 
inquired his son. He was my bosom friend for twenty-five 
years, and a Pre&byterian clergyman, replied the old man, 
turning as white as a sheet. Having recovered the old gen- 
tleman begged the privilege of propounding some questions, 
which was granted. ( These questions involved some dif- 
ference of opinion between the old gentleman and his Quaker 
son-in-law, as you would doubtless surmise, and the replies 
were patiently spelt out by the raps, using the letters of the 
alphabet as follows:) l Is the Sabbath holy time V No. All 
days are holy. Is it not wrong to transact secular business 
on the Sabbath? 'Relatively it is • not in itself.' Is the Bible 
true? 'Yes; but it is wrongly translated, and you do not un- 
stand it. 7 #**##### 

B. asked his old friend G., with whom he was conversing, 
who died in California, as follows : " If this is really you C, 
just rap that old tune you used to sing in my office. ( This 
was a peculiar strain of two staves of doggerel, the only 
thing that G. was ever known to sing. It was at once rapped 
out. Are you happy, G. ? Yes. What is your condition ? 
Almost exactly like yours, only I am in an atmosphere better 
fitted for improvement. 

The annexed corroborative "items," from the Cleve- 
land Plain Dealer of Jan. 6, 1851 are important. 

MORE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENTS, 

"I know thee not — I never heard thy voice ; 

Yet could I choose a friend from all mankind, 
Thy spirit high should be my spirit's choice, 

Thy heart should guide my heart, thy mind my mind ." 

Since the two worlds have been introduced through the 
agency of Spiritualists, daily communications are had be- 
tween the living and the dead. At this time in different parts 
of our city, these communications are going on revealing- 
some things too strange for our philsophy. 

A German clergyman had the curiosity, the other day, to 
visit a clairvoyant who, it was reported, was familiar with 
inhabitants of the spirit-land. He inquired after a departed 
friend, who in the old country, had been his college mate. 
He was astonished to find his Spirit here, hovering about him, 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 113 



and through the clairvoyant, actually conversed with him in 
his, the Spirit's native tongue, Italian, not one word of which 
language could the clairvoyant speak in a waking state The 
German also spoke the Italian, and had a most interesting in- 
terview with his long lost friend. The circumstances were 
so strange as to quite overcome him, and he wept like a 
child. 

Another case is known, more remarkable still, and which 
borders too much on the miraculous to insure belief. A little 
boy, three years old, living on Johnson street, has frequent 
spiritual impressions from his father, who died a lew months 
ago. The first that was known of it, he came running into 
the house one day and told his mother that she must go right 
off and pay a neighbor — calling him by name — a certain sum 
of borrowed money, which his father had just told him was 
due. The mother questioned him about the matter, as a 
mere freak of the child's fancy, but she soon ascertained that 
said money was due, and the amount stated. The lender 
says he had never mentioned the fact to any one, and the 
amount being so small, he never intended to mention it. 

At another time he was found, in the dead of the night, 
sitting up alone with an empty chair beside him. His mother, 
alarmed at this, knowing he was a great coward, and never 
dared to sleep alone much less be up in a dark room alone, 
called to him several times but got no answer. At length the 
mother got up and lighted a candle, when suddenly the boy 
spoke and asked his mother what she wanted to light a can- 
dle for ? He said his father had been sitting beside him in 
the empty chair, until the light came, and then he fled. 

To some, these revelations appear like sublimated non- 
sense, to others, the unsealing of divine mysteries; to the 
Greeks foolishness, to [the Jews a stumbling block. He is 
wisest who penetrates the future deepest." 

Extracts of this character, giving the opinions of can- 
did editors and disinterested correspondents, might be 
continued for many pages. They are coming before the 
world every day, in different parts of the country. 

We now invite the attention of the reader again to ac- 
counts of the investigations of men who are deeply inter- 



114 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



ested in, and have no fear of being publicly identified with 
Spiritual Science. 

One of the authors of the pamphlet on the "Mysterious 
Noises," published at Auburn, N. Y., gives his first ex- 
perience as follows: 

"On the 23d of November. 184s, I went to the city of 
Rochester on business. I had previously made up my mind 
to investigate this so-called mystery, if I should have an op- 
portunity, in doing so, 1 had no doubt but what I possessed 
shrewdness enough to detect the trick, as I strongly suspect- 
ed it to be, or to discover the cause of the noise if it should 
be known to the inmates of the house. 

" A friend of mine whom I had long known as a skeptic 
in regard to any such wonders, invited me to go with him to 
hear it. I accepted the invitation with a feeling that was far 
from serious apprehension of communicating with anything 
beyond my power to discover. 

"Before I heard the sound, we seated ourselves around a 
table. As soon as we got quiet, I heard a slight but distinct 
rapping on the floor, apparently on the under side. Although 
I concluded that such a sound might be made by machinery, 
I could see no possible motive in the family taking so much 
pains to deceive people, as they received nothing but an- 
noyance and trouble in return for their pains. I proceeded 
to ask some questions, and they were answered very treely 
and correctly. I asked if it would rap my age ? It was done 
correctly. I then took my memorandum book from my 
pocket and wrote my questions so that no other person could 
know the nature of the questions. 1 would write, l rap four 
times • rap one : rap six ; rap seven '/ and to each and every 
such question I got a correct answer. 1 then laid aside my 
book and proceeded to ask similar test questions mentally, 
and, as before, received correct answers. 

" I could not believe that persons present had the power 
to discern my thoughts and make these sounds in answer, for 
the sounds haye a peculiarity not easily imitated To sup- 
pose this to be the case, would make the matter a still great- 
er mystery. 1 knew they could not give those answers, for 
there were questions answered which they could not know 
anything about. 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 115 



H At another time I tried the experiment of counting in the 
following manner. I took several shells from a card basket 
on the table (small lake shells), closed my hand and placed 
it under the table entirely out of sight, and requested as many 
raps as there were shells. It was done correctly. As I knew 
how many shells there were m my hand, I resolvod to test it 
in another way, to see if there was a possibility of my mind 
having any influence in the matter. I took a handful of 
shells without knowing how many I took myself. Still the 
answers were correct. I then requested a friend who sat by 
the table, to put his hand in the basket, take out some shells 
without knowing the number^ and pass them into my hand; 
which I immediately closed and placed in a position where 
none could see it. The number was told as correctly as be- 
fore. We continued this class of experiments for a long time 
without the least failure in getting correct answers." 

The fo'lowing appeared in the Rochester Magnet — 
The gentlemen, whose names are signed to the state- 
ment, are well known to the citizens of Rochester, and 
are entirely above practising any intentional deception on 
the public. An appointment had been made by a Spirit, 
purporting to be that of Dr. Franklin, for a meeting, at 
which he would show that it was practicable to get com- 
munications between two distant points by means of 'rap- 
pings — by a rap -telegraph : 
To the Editor of the Daily Magnet : 

Pursuant to the notice, we, the undersigned, met at the 
house of Mr. N. Draper, on Friday, the loth inst., about 4 
o ; clock, P. M. We inquired for directions, and were an- 
swered by alphabet, ' Let Mrs. Draper be magnetized.' — 
Through her, the two young ladies were directed to retire to 
another room. The directions then were for Mr. Jervis, Mrs. 
Fox, and Catharine Fox, to be placed in a room at the oppo- 
site end of the house, and for Mr. Jervis to take notes. — 
Margaretta Fox should be with the company in the parlor, 
and Mr. Draper take notes. This was done. The sounds 
were then heard in both rooms, by either company, exactly 
similar to the sounds heard in the telegraph office. 



116 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



u Question to the clairvoyant. — What does that rapping 
mean, unlike any other sounds before heard, by rapping'? 
Answer : He is trying the batteries. The signal for the al- 
phabet was heard, and on calling the letters, w r as spelled, 
4 She must be waked in ten minutes. 7 A watch was placed 
on the table, after noting the time, and covered up, and the 
question asked, if we could have a signal, by sounds, at the 
exact time, and was answered affirmatively. At the precise 
time, the signal was heard. The question was then asked, 
i Who shall wake her?' and she was instantly awakened 
with an apparent electric shock. 

" At this point, there was much interruption, by persons 
coming into both rooms. The question w r as asked for further 
directions, and the answer was, by alphabet, ' Things are not 
as I directed, therefore, you cannot proceed at this time.' — 
There should be but four in each room. Mr. Jervis and com- 
pany came into the parlor, and his notes read as follows: 
' Things are not as 1 directed them, therefore, you cannot 
proceed at this time.' Q. — Can we have another opportuni- 
ty? A. — If I set the time and name the company, there 
shall be no fail. Q. — Shall the appointment be now made ? 
Answered affirmatively. The following persons w T ero then 
named by alphabet: — Mr. Jervis, Mr. Jones, Mr. Draper, Mr. 
Willets, Mrs. Jervis, Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Fox, 
Margaretta Fox, and Catharine Fox, Q. — May we know 
the time? A. — Wednesday next, at 4 o'clock, P. M. Q. — 
The place? A. — Here. 

11 On the day appointed, Feb. 20th, the above named per- 
sons convened ; some of the company were late, and as soon 
as order was observed, the question was asked : What are 
the directions of Benjamin Franklin? A. — Hurry ; first mag- 
netize Mrs. Draper. This was done, she immediately say- 
ing: He says we are behind the time, but he will forgive us 
this time ; we must do better in future. The company were 
divided as follows : Mr. Jervis, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Fox, Mrs. 
Brown, and Catharine Fox, in a retired rcom, with two doors 
closed between them Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Jervis, Mr. Draper, 
Mr. Willets, and Margaretta Fox, remained in the parlor. 
Sounds unusually loud, were heard in either room by either 
company, as before, resembling telegraphic sounds. They 
were so unusual, that Miss Fox became alarmed and said, 
" W^hat does all this mean ,? ? Mrs Draper ; while her counte- 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 117 



nance was irradiated with animation, replied, " He is trying 
the batteries. 57 Soon there was a signal for the alphabet, and 
the following communication was spelled to the company 
in the parlor: -Now I am ready, my friends. There will be 
great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now 
look dark and mysterious to you, will be laid plain before your 
sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world will be 
enlightened. I sign my name Benjamin Franklin. Do not 
go into the other room. 7 

" After waiting a few minutes, Mr. Jervis came into the 
parlor, saying that he was directed by the sounds to come 
and compare notes. They read as follows : Q. — Are we all 
right? Answer affirmatively, signal for alphabet, and the 
following was spelled: - There will be great changes in the 
nineteenth century. Things that now look dark and mysteri- 
ous to you, will be laid plain before your sight. Mysteries are 
going to be revealed. The world will be enlightened. I sign 
my name Benjamin Franklin. Go into the parlor and compare 
notes. 7 Mr. Jervis returned to his company, and, by alphabet, 
was spelled : 'Now all go in the parlor. 7 The notes were 
then compared, in the presence of the whole company. Q. — 
Is there anything more from Dr. Franklin? A. — 1 think 1 
have given tests enough for this day. Q. — Will it not be bet- 
ter to keep this matter private ? A. — No : it should be pub- 
lished. Q. — In Democrat or Magnet. Q. — Who shall prepare 
it for publication? A. — George Willets. Time and place 
were then designated for the same company to meet again, 
with two other persons added to their number. 

We sign our names as no parties, but as witnesses. If our 
testimony is incredible, impeach, and reject it ; if admissible, 
hand it over to the judge and jurors — the public — and charge 
them, that we claim no interest, aside from their own, in 
their verdict. 

Rev. Asahel Jervis, Nathaniel Draper, 
Edward Jones, George Willets, 

Rachael Draper, Mary Jervis, 

Mary Brown, Margaret Fox, 

Rochester, Feb. 23, 1850. 

A pamphlet published by D. M. Dewey, at Rochester, 
N. Y., from which we have previously quoted, contains 
much interesting matter in reference to the " Rappings." 



118 SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 



We copy from it the following statement, from observa- 
tion, by Rev. C. Hammond, of Rochester, which seems 
worth looking into. Mr. Hammond had been once to 
the house where these " manifestations" are mainly 
made, heard nothing extraordinary, beyond the mere 
fact of the " Rappings," and went away as skeptical as 
he came, but returned afterward with the following re- 
sult : 

" I had prepared my mind with certain questions, touch- 
ing events unknown to the family, and of a remote date. 
The sounds told me my age precisely, though my appear- 
ance is such as to indicate a difference of eight or ten years. 
The names of six of my nearest deceased relatives were 
given me. 1 then inquired; l Will the Spirit, who now makes 
These sounds, give me its name?' Five sounds directed me 
to the alphabet, which 1 repeated until the name of ( Charles' 
appeared^ which answered to an infant child whom we con- 
signed to the grave in March, 1843. To my inquiries, it 
gave me a true arswer in regard to the time it had been in 
the Spirit-land, and also the period since my eldest sister's 
death; which was nearly eighteen years; the latter fact not 
being recollected then, I found true by dates on my return 
home. Many other test questions were correctly answered ] 
and yet, notwithstanding the origin of these sounds seemed 
inexplicable, I was inclined to impute them to mesmerism 
or clairvoyance. However, as the Spirit promised to satisfy 
me by other demonstrations, when I came again, I patiently 
awaited the opportunity. 

"On the third visit; I was selected from a half-dozen gen- 
tlemen, and directed by these sounds to retire to another 
room, in company with the ' three sisters' and their aged 
mother. It was about eight o'clock in the evening. A 
lighted candle was placed on a large table, and we seated 
ourselves around it. I occupied one side of the table, the 
mother and the youngest daughter the right, and two oi the 
sisters the left, leaving the opposite side of the table vacant* 
On taking our positions the sounds were heard, and continued 
to multiply and become more violent until every part of the 
room trembled with their demonstration!!* Th©y war© unlike 



FACTS AND OPINIONS* 119 



any I had heard before. Suddenly, as we were all resting 
on the table, I felt the side next to me move upward. 1 
pressed upon it heavily, but soon it passed out of the reach 
of us all, full six feet from me, and at least four from the 
nearest person to it. I saw distinctly its position j not a 
thread could have connected it with any of the company 
without my notice, for I had come to detect imposition, if it 
could be found. In this position we were situated, when the 
question was asked, i Will the Spirit move the table back 
where it was before ?'— *and back it came, as though it were 
carried on the head of some one, who had not suited his po- 
sition to a perfect equipoise, the balance being sometimes in 
favor of one side and then the other. But it regained its first 
position. In the meantime the l demon strations ; grew louder 
and louder. The family commenced and sung the f Spirit's 
song, 7 and several other pieces of sacred music, during which 
accurate time was marked on the table, causing it to vibrate ; 
a transparent hand, resembling a shadow, presented itself 
before my face ; I felt fingers taking hold of a lock of hair 
on the left side of my head, causing an inclination of several 
inches; then a cold, death-like hand was drawn designedly 
over my face ) three gentle raps on my left knee ; my right 
limb forcibly pulled, against strong resistance, under the ta- 
ble ; a violent shaking, as though two hands were applied to 
my shoulders ; myself and chair uplifted and moved back a 
few inches j and several slaps, as with a hand, on the side of 
my head, which were repeated on each one of the company, 
more rapid than I could count. During these l manifesta- 
tions, 7 a piece of pasteboard, nearly a foot square, was swung 
with such velocity before us as to throw a strong current of 
air in our faces ; a. paper curtain attached to one of the win- 
dows was rolled up and unrolled twice; a lounge, immedi* 
ately behind me, was shaken violently; two small drawers in 
a bureau played back and forth with inconceivable rapidity; 
a sound resembling a man sawing boards, and planing them, 
was heard under the table; a common spinning-wheel seem- 
ed to be in motion, making a very natural buzz of the spindle 3 
a reel articulated each knot wound upon it; while the sound 
of a rocking cradle indicated maternal care for the infants 
slumbers. These were among many other demonstrations 
which I witnessed that evening, amid which I felt a perfect 
self*possession ; and in no instance the slightest embarrass- 



120 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



ment. except a momentary chili when the cold hand was ap- 
plied to my face, similar to a sensation I have realized when 
touching a dead body. That any of the company could have 
performed these things, under the circumstances in which we 
were situated, would require a greater stretch of credulity on 
my part, than it w r ould be to believe it was the work of 
Spirits. It could not, by at.y possibility, have been done by 
them, nor even attempted, without detection. And I may 
add that near the close of the demonstrations at this visit, 
there was a vibration of the floor, as though several tons in 
weight had been uplifted and suddenly fallen again upon it. 
This caused everything in the room to shake most violently 
for several minutes, when the force was withdrawn. 

" 1 have also tested the intelligence of these Spirits in 
every way my ingenuity could invent. On one occasion, I 
wrote a word on a slip of paper privately, placed it in my 
wallet, went there, and the sounds, through the alphabet, 
spelled that word correctly as 1 had written it. That word 
was ' Sibyl.' 

"On the 20th of February, inst, the two youngest listers 
made my family a visit. Here the sounds were heard — 
questions involving subjects wholly unknown to them were 
answered — a large heavy dining table was moved several 
times — and on expressing thanks at the table to the Giver of 
all good, some six or eight sounds responded to every sen- 
tence I uttered, by making loud and distinct sounds in va- 
rious parts of the room. Yours, truly, 

Rochester, Feb. 22d, 1850. C. HAMMOND. 77 

We designed giving a brief account of the " manifes- 
tations " at the house of Rev. Dr. Phelps, Stratford, Con- 
necticut, as a matter of record ; but our limits are nar- 
row, and we can only say that for many months the fam- 
ily has been much annoyed by the breaking of windows 
and the hurling of missiles, by invisible agencies. There 
are, also, various strange sounds; and mysterious notes 
are left in different parts of the house. Communications 
have sometimes been received, but Mr. Phelps being, as 
the editor of the Spirit Messenger says, " a Presbyterian 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 121 



clergyman, of 'many year s* standing, and his lady, also, be- 
ing a member of the same sect, they have long believed 
in the existence of a devil and evil Spirits, and do not 
hesitate to express the opinion, that the Spirits who man- 
ifest their presence in their house, are evil Spirits. Hence 
they feel very much annoyed in view of the manifesta- 
tions which they cannot prevent, and occasionally indi- 
cate to their spiritual visitors, in no select terms, that 
K their room is preferable to their company." The at- 
traction of affinity, or some other law of nature, it seems, 
will not permit the Spirits to yield to the passionate im- 
pulses of the Doctor and his lady, and they still remain, 
in spite of the marked discourtesy with which they are 
received. One of the Angel visitants, who often attempts 
to communicate, and who has succeeded already in im- 
parting much valuable information to the family, is the 
Spirit of Mr. Nicholson, the husband of Mrs. Phelps, and 
the father of the two children whose systems furnish the 
peculiar electrical medium, through which Spirits can 
act upon grosser substances, and transmit, as by the 
electric telegraph, intelligence to their friends in the 
body. This affectionate Spirit — this soul of love and 
life, who still lingers around the objects of his early af- 
fection — we are sorry to say, has often been repulsed by 
his former companion, who, on one occasion, is said to 
have informed him, in answer to his expressed desire to 
communicate further with her, that she regarded him as 
an evil Spirit ; that she knew from the Bible, that such 
Spirits were suffering the torments o? hell !" 

LaRoy Sunderland, the well-known Pathetist, Editor 
of the Spirit- World, published at Boston, has visited Dr~ 
9 



122 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Phelps' house, and gives the following statement in re- 
ference to peculiar " manifestations" at this and other 
places, under the caption of 

WRITING BY SPIRITS. 

•'The Rev. Dr. Phelps informed me that about one hun- 
dred communications had been made, in characters and 
writing, since March 10th, 1850, at his house, purporting to 
come from Spirits. The cap pants and handkerchief of one 
of the family, had been written on, in characters. I saw one 
paper at Dr. Phelps 7 , not quite as wide, but longer than a 
sheet of foolscap, coveted with characters in perpendicular 
lines. Some were in Hebrew, and most of the characters 
appeared like Arabic. They were well made, and looked as 
if written with a pen and ink. A smaller paper, covered 
with Hebrew and similar characters, was written with ink, 
as the family saw it when it fell from the air, and Mrs. P. 
noticed that the ink was not dry, and she pointed out to me 
one of the letters which blotted a little by her touching before 
it was dry. 

" L have now before me, three pieces of paper, badly 
written upon, which Mr. Phelps and family assured me were 
thrown down from the air in their house, by those invisible 
agents. One is signed ''H. P. Devil," and the other by a 
man's name who is dead, but who was previously known to 
the family. And Mr. P. showed me letters, covering one 
page of letter paper, which had been thrown down from the 
air by the same invisible hand, but which were signed with 
the names of orthodox clergymen living in Philadelphia. 
These letters are somewhat curious. 

" I saw another specimen of writing by a Spirit, in Au- 
burn, N. Y. Mrs. G. B. Bennett showed me a slip of paper, 
written on by the Spirit of her mother, and thrown down by 
her side in such a manner as left no room to doubt but that 
it was from the invisible Spirit of her mother. Indeed, it 
was in her mother's hand- writing, and bore her signature, as 
she formerly wrote it when in the external body, and con- 
tained an error in the orthography peculiar to her previous 
method of spelling ! 1 have far more evidence to prove to 
my own mind, that that slip of paper shown me by Mrs. 
Bennett, was really written upon by the Spirit of her mother, 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 123 



than I have to prove that the Epistle to the Hebrews was 
written by St. Paul. 

u Dr. Wellington, (associated with Dr. Shew, in the water- 
cure. New York,) showed me two pieces of paper, written 
on, as he believes, by Spirits, without human hands. And I 
admit, that if what the Dr. stated to me, as to the manner in 
which they were first presented to human knowledge be 
true, why they must have been written by Spirits. 

"As to the way. the manner, or means. I know nothing. 
But, that I have seen writings, letters and characters which 
were written, without human hands, I as firmly believe as 
that I am now myself engaged in writing, and that ray mind 
is in a state suitable for judging accurately of what I see and 
hear. The time was, when 1 could not have believed what 
1 here state, as possible ; but I am older to-day than I was a 
year ago. 77 

There have yet been no " manifestations" of the 
character described by Mr. Sunderland, in Cincinnati. 

We shall conclude this Part with a few extracts from 
a letter addressed to Messrs. Capron and Barron, by 
John O. Wattles, of West Point, Indiana, after he had 
read their pamphlet. 

Mr. Wattles has been, for many years, a spontaneous 
clairvoyant — that is, he enters the clairvoyant state by 
the power of his own will. He is, so to speak, an emi- 
nently spiritual-minded man. He is one of the " chosen 
few" of this world who dare punish the flesh for the 
good of the Spirit — who can suffer much for opinion's 
sake, and who " will be honest though the Heavens fall." 
He is a man of education— -an original thinker and a 
careful investigator; but a man who has many rare ec- 
centricities. They are such, however, as show a devo- 
tion to principle, and win confidence among all who 
can appreciate a man whose whole nature, physical, 
mental and moral, is antagonistic to selfishness in the 



124 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

broadest signification of what social Keformers under- 
stand by selfishness. 

With this explanation of the writer's peculiarly, we 
subjoin the extracts : 

li That we are surrounded by mental beings at all times 
and in all places, is a fact so easily explained, that the great 
mystery is why everybody don't know it. That the Omnipo- 
tent Spirit of God envelopes our minds as the atmosphere 
does our bodies, is a fact denied only by Atheists, whether 
in the Church or out. That the distance between the Spirits 
within us and the Spirits around us, is only the thickness 
of our bodies, is a necessary conclusion from such admis- 
sions. * * But the bodies of some are so thick that their 
minds could scarcely hear the resurrection trumpet, much 
less the silence of Spirit-talk. There are ten thousand fathoms 
of dead animals' carcasses closely packed, five thousand 
leagues of grease, gravy, rum, tea, coffee and tobacco, and 
millions of miles of filth and corruption too impure to be 
talked of, between them and all mind. No wonder that men- 
tal beings have to move chairs, tables, &c. The wonder is 
that they don't move mountains and rocks, and bury the 
dirty, filthy, doubting wretches deep in oblivion. That is 
evidence enough to me that they are 'good spirits. 7 

u Before this generation shall have passed away, the ¥ great 
gulf between mind and mind shall be bridged; heaven and 
earth shall be united; the shores of Time and the plains of 
Eternity shall touch together, and preliminary to the time 
when none shall say to his brother, " Know the Lord," but 
all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest. The great 
reforms of the age are fast tending to this great end, and man 
is about entering upon a higher sphere of existence than he 
has ever, as a whole, enjoyed before. 

* * * * * * 

" Purity , both physical and mental, must precede any great 
mental ( manifestation. 7 Without it, it will soon dwindle into 
insignificance and folly. Less of the physical evidence and 
more of the mental will be better. Knowledge for the great 
work of progression and human elevation should be sought 
after — directions for the most successful and best efforts to 
bring humanity to a glorious consummation — unity of man 



FACTS AND OPINIONS. 125 



with man, man with angels, and all with God. If these 
heavenly messengers have come to visit us. let us use them for 
the elevation and redemption of Man. If thej have not come 
for that purpose, they may as well stay away. But they 
have. They have been bending over us, and flocking around 
the world, peering into every crevice in the cold, cast-iron 
heart of man, beating at the door of every mental temple for 
admittance, and shouting at the top of their voices to the 
walking corpses that stalk above ground, ever since they have 
Left their bodies. They labor as intently now for the good of 
man as they did in the body, and perhaps more so, and only 
need access to man to guide him out of the wilderness, over 
the desert and up the hill-tops to the land of Redemption. 
So don ; t let us bother them about minor matters, but go right 
into the great work at once. That eventually will furnish 
the world wtth the best evidence that they are from God, and 
ail will seek to be with them, or rather, enjoy and realize 
their presence. 

u Above all things, keep it from being made a. mercenary 
matter. There is nothing so deadening to Spirit life as venali- 
ty, unless it be the denial of ever present Angel Spirits. Beg, 
dig, grub and starve, but don 7 t traffic in Angel intercourse. 
If the gate of Heaven has been opened, don't let us have 
Mammon for gate-keeper. If Franklin, or Rogers, or Swe- 
denborg, or Gabriel have come to our aid, don't let us set 
them on the auction block to sell to the highest bidder. 

*LL ^' •££, ^f, .afc. *4£- <£? 

W *7? W flP 7^ W *K* 

(i Let us seek such information as shall enable all the race 
to come up and talk with them face to face, behold their 
glories and to be like them. Get knowledge of them with 
reference to the great principles of the government of God, 
or whether there are such principles — with reference to phy- 
siological science, or whether there is such a science — of 
mental science, or whether there is mental science — whether 
obedience to each and all of these will produce harmony of 
character and final unity of the race — the means to be used 
to bring the constitution of man to harmony with itself, with 
nature and with God — when there shall be but one moving 
motive — one great central heart — one infinite, pervading soul 
that fills the mighty universe, when each shall be himself, 
and God be all in all. 

"Let us try to get up to them, and not bring them down to 



126 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



us, lest they become wearied of our sensuality, and so leave 
lis in oar corruption. Cling to them that you may be in- 
structed, so may the world be blest, and their mission be 
fulfilled." 

These are the sentiments which should actuate every 
man engaged in Spiritual investigation. With their im- 
pressions upon the mind of the reader, we hasten to 
Part III. of the " Signs of the Times," in which are 
some views expressed in relation to Spirit and its power 
of " manifestation." 



SPIRIT POWER. 127 



PART III. 



" Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again, 

The eternal years of God are hers." Bryant. 

** Truth is eternal, but her effluence, 
With endless change, is fitted to the hour ; 
Her mirror is turned forward, to reflect 
The promise of the future, not the past." 

J. R. Lowell. 

SPIRIT-POWER. 



The " manifestations," of which we have given some 
account in the foregoing pages, are not a thing " new 
under the sun," as most people suppose. They were 
heard and excited wonder many years ago, in England, 
in Germany, and in France, as well in this country — 
but until the Hydesville " manifestations," they were 
never ascertained to be for the communication, to mor- 
tals, of the thoughts of the departed. 

We have well authenticated accounts of "knockings" 
in Germany as far back as the year 1135 — more than 
seven hundred years ago. They were heard in 1620, 
at the town of Oppenheim, and at St. Maur, near Paris, 
in 1706. 

The account of the " manifestations" — mysterious 
noises — in the Wesley family, as early as 1716, written 
by Rev. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, has been 
extensively published and generally read. 



128 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

In 1740, there were " manifestations" in a Printing 
office, at Constance, England, which created intense ex- 
citement. Very curious and remarkable " manifesta- 
tions" were made at Stockwell, England, in 1772. 

Justinus Kerner, in a work entitled the "Seeress 
of Provorst," relates that precisely similar occurrences 
took place at Winesburg, Germany, in 1825 and 1828 — 
also at Slawensick Castle, Silesia. Many other instances 
of " mysterious manifestations" might be cited. 

We have shown in the Part on "Cincinnati Rap- 
pings," that the " knockings" were heard in this city 
three years ago. We have reliable testimony that they 
were heard in Chittenden Co., Vt., ten years ago — also 
in several parts of Pennsylvania, fifteen years ago ; and 
in 1834, the Ontario Repository, published at Canandai- 
gua, New York, gave a lengthy account of " knockings" 
which continued for several days in a house in that 
town. They created great excitement, but on the most 
rigid scrutiny, could not be accounted for. 

The Indians of the Rocky Mountains, as we have 
been informed by a Trapper who lived several years 
among them, have ancient traditions of what may be 
called Wrappings," which they believe to come from a 
Spirit called " Great Bear," who gives warnings of ca- 
lamities. 

We have no doubt " mysterious manifestations" have 
been heard during the present century, in many parts of 
our country, which have been a " nine days wonder" in 
the neighborhood, and then died away, without being 
brought before the public ; but we believe not only that 
the " manifestations" are not now to cease and be for- 



SPIRIT POWER. 129 



gotten, but as confidence grows that they are Spiritual 
" manifestations," they will become more positive, more 
important, more wonderful, higher in order, and more 
general. 

For clairvoyants to see Spirits, is by no means a pe- 
culiarity of these times. German writers have publish- 
ed much upon the *' mystery," and they furnish exam- 
ples of '•Spiritual manifestations" which stagger those 
who grope in the blind belief that all Spirits, released 
from the body, are in some sort of bondage, and must re- 
main so until " the end of the world." Mrs. Crowe, in 
her work entitled the "Night Side of Nature," gives an 
array of exampl es of ghost-seeing, presentiments, wraiths, 
and warnings, most formidable to those who would not 
have faith that there are guardian Spirits, and that these 
Spirits were once embodied in clay, over whose dust, as 
it moulders in the silent tomb, they may often shed bit- 
ter, unavailing tears. 

The Shaking Quakers of our country, have, for years, 
had " manifestations" among them, by means of which 
revelations are made, that although tinged to a con- 
siderable degree with the peculiar doctrines of these 
people, in their general principles give evidence of 
Spiritual influences. This shows that contemned sects 
may be in advance of those most dearly beloved and 
most scrupulously cherished in the gay world. 

William Fishbough, of New York, an able writer on 
psychology says: — "In all ages and nations, there has 
been a widely prevailing belief in the influence of Spirits 
upon the affairs of men, and volumes might be filled 
with apparently the best authenticated instances of Spirits 



130 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

manifesting their presence to men in the body, in various 
ways. Confucius taught that the Spirits of the departed 
returned frequently to the halls of their ancestors. Zo- 
roaster claimed to have intercourse with beings of the 
other world. The learned are aware that Pythagoras 
and Plato taught the doctrine of guardian Spirits ; So- 
crates professed to be under the constant guidance of 
such a monitor. The ancient Egyptians and Hebrews 
entertained essentially the same views respecting inter- 
positions of the inhabitants of the Spiritual world. 
****** 

u It is only in these latter days, characterized by a very 
sensuous mode of philosophizing, that a portion of the 
christian church has asserted that intercourse with the 
Spirits of the other world ceased with the days of the 
Apostles." 

A. J. Davis' " Revealments" have been extensively 
published. At least four years ago, we were minutely 
advised of descriptions given by a clairvoyant in Cin- 
cinnati, of Spirits seen in the Spirit-world. 

Many interesting statements are made in a work en- 
titled the " Seeress of Prevorst," which contains the 
experience of Madam Hauffe, of Prevorst, in Wirtem- 
burg. The following is an extract from her statement : 

u Unfortunately ; my life is now so constituted, that my soul, 
as well as my Spirit, sees into the Spiritual world — which is, 
however, indeed upon the earth; and I see them, not only 
singly, but frequently, in multitudes, and of different kinds : 
and many departed souls. 

c - 1 see many with whom 1 come into no approximation, and 
others who come to me, with whom I converge, and who re- 
main near me for months; I see them at various times, by 
day and night, whether I am alone, or in company. * # 



SPIRIT POWER. 131 



"1 observe frequently, that when a ghost visits me be- 
night, those who sleep in the same room with me, are, by 
their dreams, made aware of its presence; they speak after- 
wards of the apparition they saw in their dream, though I 
have not breathed a syllable on the subject to them. Whilst 
the ghosts are with me, I see and hear everything around me 
as usual, and can think of other subjects; and though I can 
avert my eyes from them, it is difficult for me to do it; I 
feel in a sort of magnetic rapport with them. They appear 
to me like a thin cloud, that one could see through, which, 
however, I cannot do. * * The forms of the good 
Spirits appear bright; those of the evil, dusky. 

•'Their gait is like the gait of the living, only that the bet- 
ter Spirits seem to float, and the evil ones tread heavier; so 
that their footsteps may sometimes be heard, not by me 
alone, but by those who are with me. They have various 
ways of attracting attention by other sounds besides speech; 
and this faculty they exercise frequently on those who can 
neither see them nor hear their voices. These sounds con- 
sist in sighing, knocking, noises as of the throwing of sand, or 
gravel, rustling of paper, rolling of a ball, shuffling as in slip- 
pers, &c, &c. They are also able to move heavy articles, 
and to open and shut doors, although they can pass through 
them unopened, or through the walls. I observe that the 
darker a spectre is, the stronger is his voice, and the more 
ghostly powers of making noises, and so forth, he seems to 
have. The sounds they produce are by means of the air, 
and the nerve-spirit, w T hich is still in them. * " * I 
observe that the happy Spirits have the same difficulty in 
answering questions regarding earthly matters, as the evil 
ones have in doing it with respect to heavenly ones; the first 
belong not to earth, nor the last to heaven." 

In the Arcana Celestia, page 448, Emanuel Sweden- 

borg says : 

"1 have conversed with many after their decease, with 
whom I was acquainted during their life in the body ; and 
such conversation has been of long continuance, sometimes 
for months, sometimes for a whole year; and with as clear 
and distinct a voice, but internal, as with friends in the 
world. The subject of our discourse has sometimes turned 
on the state of man after death; and they have greatly won- 



132 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



dered that no one in the life of the body knows, or believes, 
that he is to live in such a manner after the life of the body ; 
when, nevertheless, it is a continuation of life, and that of 
such a nature, that the deceased passes from an obscure life 
into a clear and distinct one ; and they w T ho are in faith to- 
wards the Lord, into a life more and more clear and distinct." 

The following is from an English work, entitled 
"Psychology; or. the Science of the Soul, by Joseph 
Haddock, M. D.," giving an account of the sights of a 
lady who was a spontaneous clairvoyant : 

" Her general statements represent man as a Spiritual be- 
ing, rising from the shell of the dead body immediately after 
death, a perfectly organized existence, and having a com- 
plete sensational perception of his iellow Spiritual beings, and 
of the beautiful scenery of the Spiritual spheres; that is, pro- 
vided he possessed, during his natural life, a moral state, in 
harmony with those spheres. The male and female sex, re- 
taining all the characteristics necessary to a Spiritual state of 
existence, and living together in a state of angelic union. 
Those who have been interiorly united here, coming again 
into a state of union hereafter. She represents male and 
female Spiritual beings, thus united, as appearing at a dis- 
tance as one, and says that they are not called two, nor the 
married, but the one. Infants and young children, who have 
passed from this world by death, are stated to grow to a state 
of adolescence, but more speedily than in the natural world. 
During infancy and early childhood, they are confided to the 
care of good female Spirits, or Angels, whose delight it is to 
instruct them by various methods, especially by representatives 
of things. These Spiritual spheres, and their Spiritual inhabi- 
tants, are in close association with us, and exercise an influ- 
ence over us, although we are unconscious of it. All that is 
wanted to have a sensational knowledge of their existence, is 
the closing of the external consciousness, and a full awaken- 
ing of the internal consciousness. In the highest state of 
trance, she appeared to herself to be among Spiritual beings, 
as one of themselves ; at other times she appeared to them 
more shadowy. The first receptacle of the departed Spirit, 
she describes as a sort of middle place or state, from which 
the good gradually ascend to higher and more delightful 



SPIRIT POWER. 133 



places; those that are the best having higher abodes than the 
others." 

It has ever been a doctrine of the established Church, 
and one most eloquently enforced, that this life is a 
probationary one — that in this sphere men are to pre- 
pare for a higher order of being. Clairvoyant revelations 
make this doctrine practical, and show us what the high- 
er sphere is, and what we must do to attain an exalted 
position in it. If we believe that there are Spiritual 
advisers ever hovering near us, and we hearken unto 
their counsels, we shall come in close communion with 
them, and we shall so live on earth that we may almost 
end our probation, and, like Enoch and Elijah, be pre- 
pared for the Spirit-world, ere the temporal body's de- 
cease. 

The New York Tribune, of Dec. 27th 1850 contained 
the report of " a talk with a deceased friend through a 
clairvoyant," which as Horace Greeley says, should be 
published, to refute the assumption that " nothing is ever 
communicated from the spirit world by these new agen- 
cies that is of the slightest importance." The responses, 
it is said, are uniformly frivolous, useless, and uninterest- 
ing. 

With Mr. Greeley we can say, that, so far as we have 
observed, they are about as worthy of regard as the 
questions to which they are replies will permit them to be. 

The deceased Mr. C, who purports to be the commu- 
nicator, was, the Tribune states, a man of decided in- 
telligence, energy, and philanthropy ; and these respon- 
ses are very like his manner of speaking while on earth. 



134 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



"Question. — Mr. C had the human race a conscious exist- 
ence before we came upon this earth ? Answer. — Soul-mat- 
ter had an existence, but not a conscious existence. Q. — Are 
there any spirits which exert an evil or malignant influence 
on human actions and conditions? A. — Yes; but not because 
they desire to do so, but because of their inferior or gross 
organization. Q. — Are there any human spirits which h?ve 
passed from earth which are not in a state of progress or im- 
provement. A. — No; but some progress slowly having a 
very <;ross organization to begin with. * * * 

Q. — Are there any spirits in a state of misery or pain, so 
as to feel their existence a burden'? A. — There are some 
who have mental suffering, because they did not improve [or 
misused] their advantages while on earth. Q. — Are there 
any so separated from their friends as to cause them unhappi- 
ness — not being allowed the society of those they love best? 
A. — If the} 7 might [now] have been associated with those 
friends by improving their advantages [when] on earth then 
they are unhappy. Q. — Are there any who despair of 
ever attaining the condition of the blest? A. — They may at 
times but not lastingly. Q. — Does the state in which Mr. C. 
now is seem more immediately, palpably under the Divine 
Government than our condition ? A. — Its inhabitants see 
more clearly, as they have progressed farther. Q. — Are 
there any in that state who disbelieve the existence of the 
Deity. A. — They do not disbelieve it, but some do not com- 
prehend it. Q. — Then the Deity is not visible in that sphere? 
A- — He is nowhere visible. We receive impressions from 
Him, but do not see Him. Q — Are the Apostles and founders 
of Christianity visible to Mr. C? A. — No: None who are in 
a higher sphere are visible to those in a lower. Q. — Can 
those in a higher sphere communicate to those in a lower? 
A. — Yes. Q. — When Clairvoyants suppose they see Apostles 
&c, are they deceived ? or do they really see as they sup- 
pose? A. — Many of them think they see Apostle Paul, or 
whoever else they wish to communicate with, when they 
really do not. Q. — When a mother, who dearly loves her 
good child, but who has lived unworthily, goes to the spirit 
world, is she, or is she not, permitted to see her child before 
she has attained his sphere ? A. — She does not see him. but 
receives impressions from him Q. — Does he see her ? A. — 
Y r es; he communicates to her ? and watches over her. Q. — 



SPIRIT POWER. 135 



Have former generations passed away, so that they cannot be 
seen from Mr. C . 7 s present sphere? A. — Some have, and 
some have not . Q — Could Mr. C. see Adam and the ancient 
Patriarchs? A. — No. Q. — Is this new ability on our part to 
communicate witn the Spirit World a consequence of any 
change or improvemen in the Human Family? A. — Yes: 
the Human Race have become more refined and susceptible 
[to impression from the Spirit World] thanformerly. [It was 
here casually stated by some one present that Mr. C. had 
stated on former occasions, that Idiots have no immortal ex- 
istence. — The present querists demured to this, and asked] 
Q. — Do children, who die in conscious infancy, live in the 
Future State ? A. — The moment an infant has been ushered 
into the world, an individuality has been formed, which con- 
tinues to exist, poviding the physical constitution was per- 
fected — not otherwise. Q. — Then why do not animals have 
an immortal existence ? A. — Man has a peculiar formation, 
which animals have not. To all who have that formation, 
Soul adheres — not to others. Q. — Can Mr. C. give us any idea 
of his present location in space — whether it is on any particu- 
lar planet, or around this earth? A. — Human spirits love to 
hover around this earth, but they are not confined to it Q. — 
Are the planets visible to Mr. C. ? A. — Yes. Q. — Does Mr. 
C. see this outer material earth? Does he see it as we do, 
with our material eyes ?. A. — He perceives the earth as a 
highly material body. [On another occasion, it was staled, 
in reply to a question, that all created existences are first 
clothed in material bodies, passing thence into purer and 
more spiritual forms, and that the inhabitants of the higher 
planets, like Saturn, pass through a change from the material 
to the purely spiritual state equivalent to our Death, but one 
unattended by pain, and which is not desired, nor dreaded." 

Many of the answers above quoted give precisely the 
philosophy in relation to spiritual matters which we have 
frequently received through clairvoyants. All persons, who, 
in the internal condition have power to speak intelligently of 
the planets, agree that the inhabitants of Saturn are in a 
highly spiritual condition. 

It is the impression of some clairvoyants, different from 
the revelation quoted, that the Spirits have knowledge of 



136 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



each other in all the spheres; that a Spirit may form part of 
a family circle in one sphere, and also form a part of another 
circle in a much higher sphere. Those in the lower have, 
however, but glimpses of the happiness and elevation of the 
higher spheres, and know Spirits in them, only as intellects 
of inferior order know intellects of a high order in this world. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer of January 13th, 1851, con- 
tained the report of a conversation with a clairvoyant, from 
which we extract the following questions and answers. It 
will be seen that they correspond w T ith views given us by 
clairvoyants. If this can all be imagination — imagination is 
truly a wonder, and the world yet knows but little of its 
u mysteries." 

cc Q. — Is the spirit of a human being ever lost ? A. — Never. 
All that once live, always live, and grow better and brighter 
in the spiritual state. There is no such state as spiritual tor- 
ment. That is a mistake of the Church teachers. Nature has 
provided no such place, but spirits enjoy different degrees of 
happiness, owing to their different degrees of knowledge or 
development. Q. — Do persons dying insane have rational 
spirits ? A. — To be sure they do. Insanity is produced by 
unfortunate material organization or diseases of the body, and 
when the spirit leaves the body these material causes are remo- 
ved and the spirit is free. Q. — Do spirits ever become so per- 
fect as|to loose their connection with this earth ? A. — Do peo- 
ple ever get so old as to forget their youth ? Q. — Do spirits wor- 
ship a superior being? A. — They all reverence perfection in 
nature and acknowledge a superior power, or the "great Posi- 
tive," but know nothing about a being that they must both fear 
and love, as taught by orthordox creeds of the day. Every 
spirit strives to make itself and others better and are con- 
stantly exerting an unseen influence to elevate their friends 
on earth in the great scale of perfection. Q. — Then there is no 
such place as hell in another world. A. — no, but the better 
we are here, the happier we shall be there. Q. — Do our guardian 
spirits know our thoughts ? A. — Indeed they do. Thoughts 
are things to them easily searched out. Q. — Do spirits re- 
tain a tangible form ? A. — They do. Their identity is never 
lost. — They appear a kind of sublimated essence ; can move 
themselves by will and receive impressions from one another 
by undulations of the atmosphere, the same as sound is convey- 
ed here. Q. — Is there any such thing as marrying in another 



SPIRIT POWER, 137 



world ? A. — There is such a thing as mating, which is a very 
different thing from marrying. Every spirit has its mate, a 
congenial spirit, and if not properly mated here, will be there. 
Q. — Is death what it appears to us, the " King of Terrors?" 
A. — Oh, no. When the spirit leaves the body there is no pain. 
There may before that period, while the body is struggling to 
retain the spirit. * * * * * 

Q. — Are the "Spirit Tappings' ' genuine communications 
from the spirit land? A. — They are. No deception has yet 
been detected ; none can be, for there is none in them. They 
will soon be more common. New lights are now dawning upon 
the world which are going to work great revolutions in a very 
short space of time. You will be wiser, very soon. Your pre- 
judices are giving way and the truth is beginning to make you 
free." 

From the Plain Dealer of Jan. 1st, 1851, we learn that 
Thomas Paine has been conversing to a clairvoyant in Cleve- 
land. As the clairvoyant reported, he said : 

u 1 died in great bodily agony, but full in the faith that that 
was the last of me. Judge my surprise to find himself in the 
spirit-land, among friends and acquaintances, who seemed 
overjoyed to see me. I could not believe I was dead. 1 sup- 
posed my spirit must have re-entered my body, but on look- 
ing, 1 saw I had no body. It was some time before I became 
reconciled to my new condition. But here I am, happy in the 
enjoyment of progress and truth. My friends here do not 
condemn me for my belief on earth. I was honest in that 
belief. I could not help it. You will soon believe as I now 
do; for you will mark the infidels, as they are called on the 
earth, will be first to embrace the truth, having no opposing 
creeds or prejudices to prevent them." 

Investigations of this character should be pursued, and in- 
vestigators should "compare- notes," and publish convic- 
tions, until the power of Spirit in its manifestation to earth 
is understood— until the world shall appreciate the important 
truths that, from the " revelations" of these times, appear to 
have been long struggling for popular recognition. We have 
no idea of the sw^er-naturai about these manifestations. 

We are impressed that they are through electric u medi- 
ums," as previously argued. For this impression we give 
10 



138 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

our reasons in various connections in this work. We hope 
the bearings of these reasons will be taken, and their force 
critically examined, and that competent men will inquire into 
this electric theory, until Spiritual Electricity — Spiritual Mag- 
netism — can be clearly explained — until the wonderful sym- 
pathy, power and elevation which human magnetism affords 
is not only understood but recognized. 

We have said, that where the raps are heard, impressive 
persons always perceive electric influences. Those who 
cause the sounds, as clairvoyants declare, state them to be 
electric, but how i Mr. Fishbough says : 

" Spirits still connected with, but owing to some abnormal 
condition, capable of acting in measurable independence of the 
body, have sometimes been able to attract, and act upon the 
refined ingredients of the atmosphere, and especially upon the 
electric element. The writer is acquainted with a man who is 
subject to many remarkable psychological experiences, and who 
is (or was two years ago) able, by the mere effort of his will, to 
fill his hair so full of electricity, that on passing a comb through 
it, it would appear to be almost in a continuous flame, emitting 
sparks, and slight, but distinctly perceptible shocks, when the 
knuckle of another person was presented. On diverting his 
mind from the object, the electricity would, in half a minute, all 
disappear, so that not a single spark could be generated, how- 
ever violent the friction. Then on assuming the previous men- 
tal condition again, the electricity would gradually appear, 
until his hair was charged as before. The writer saw this ex- 
periment repeated several times, and under circumstances which 
excluded ail possibility of mistake. There was, at the time, 
no electric machine in the room, or in the house, and the man 
was standing, or walking about, on a woolen carpet. He ex- 
plained, in vague terms, how he did it, but it was altogether by 
a psychological process, of which anyone in a perfectly normal 
condition, would be incapable. " 

Dr. Emerich, professor of theology, at Strasburgh, had a 
sister, who, having been injured by a fright, fell into a state 
of somnambulism, accompanied by a high degree of lucidity, 
(or clairvoyance,) and her body became so surcharged with 
electricity, that she sometimes imparted strong shocks to those 
standing near her, although the latter frequently did not touch 
her. Professor Emerich mentioned, also, that she sent him a 



SPIRIT POWER. 139 



smart shock one day, when she was several rooms off. He 
started up, and rushed into her chamber, where she was in 
bed, and as soon as she saw him ; she said ; laughing, " Ah, 
you felt it, did you V 7 

On the evening of the 11th of January, 1851, we were in 
company with a clairvoyant, who is regarded by all who 
know her as a lady of strict veracity — one whose line of con- 
duct is governed by a degree of conscientiousness that is not 
very common. In the early part of the evening, she gave 
marked, evidences of being spiritually impressed. She soon 
passed into the clairvoyant state, and remarked that she was 
under new influences — that there was around her a circle of 
Spirits, higher than any with which she had ever before come 
in close communion. 

Question. — Can you describe any of these Spirits'? An- 
swer. — One of them is a physician. Q. — Was he an emi- 
nent man 1 A. — He was one of the greatest surgeons of his 
time. Q. — Where did he live 1 A. — In England. Q. — Can 
you ascertain his name? A.— Sir — (after a pause) — Astley 
(another pause) Cowper. Q. — Are you sure there ever was 
such a man ? A. — Yes. His name was changed. In the 
old Saxon it was Cowper — he was called Cooper. Q. — Why 
is he here ? A. — He comes in his own time. He has used 
Dr. Bennet as his medium to communicate with me, till he 
can now give me direct impressions. Q. — Does Dr. Bennet 
see and know him ? A. — Bennet is in a much lower sphere- 
He knows Sir Cooper is here, but does not appreciate his 
happiness. Q. — Will Bennet ever be in as high a sphere as 
Sir Astley is ? A. — Yes — then Sir Astley will be much high- 
er. Spheres have all their relative distances, but as Spirits 
approach perfection, the distances between their spheres 
lessen. Q. — What is the highest sphere? A. — Spirits pro- 
gress till they get to Christ — then to God : when they are all 
one, yet distinct. We are each a portion of the divine 



140 SIGJSS OF THE TIMES. 



mind — that portion is the germ of the Soul. Q. — Does that 
secure an immortality? A. — Soul is the home of that germ, 
as the body is the home of the Soul. Q. — Will you explain ? 
A. — The Spirit is the outer home of the Soul, as nature is the 
home of the body — but the three harmonise, as the body 
should harmonise with nature; for if the body does harmon- 
ise with nature, then the Soul harmonises with the body, and 
we have a perfect man. Q. — It has recently been discovered 
that oxygen has a magnetic property. What of it? A. — 
Oxygenized air is nothing more than electrical air. There is 
a portion of electricity thrown off from the body every second 
of time, and all the inhalations that are made are the taking 
in of the principle that sustains life. This is carried through 
the system and supplies all the ducts. Each particle is a 
tube. Q. — What has electricity to do with the sustaining of 
life 1 A. — It connects the Soul with, or binds the Soul to, 
the body. As long as there is electricity in the body the 
Soul remains with it. Q. — It has been ascertained by deli- 
cate experiment, that the human will can move the mag- 
netic needle. Can you explain why ? A. — Theie is an 
affinity — on the same principle that Spirits move matter. 
The Spiritual electricity, thrown off by volition, comes in con- 
tact with the electricity of matter. Q. — What is the medium 
of your impressions'? A. — Electricity. Q. — Can you des- 
cribe Sir Astley Cooper'? A. — He appears to me a large 
man, but he may look to me larger than he was when he 
left this world. He has an expansive forehead — a bright, 
piercing eye, and is rather homely looking. He has great 
benevolence. He is eccentric. He would visit a poor pa- 
tient as soon as a rich one, but he would not charge the poor 
one as he would the rich. He was conscientious about this; 
however. He believed that God intended the rich should be 
pay-masters for the poor. Q. — Did you ever read anything 
about this person ? A. — I only know that he was a great 



SPIRIT POWER. 141 



surgeon. I have an external impression that he was physi- 
cian to the royal household. I know nothing more of his 
character. I have done. I have been taken among the 
Spiritual spheres. Sir Cooper brings me back. 

The clairvoyant would answer no more questions, and in 
a few minutes resumed the normal condition. 

It may be well to examine the electrical theory of this 
" revealment." 

Alfred Smee, F. R. S., surgeon of the Bank of England, 
delivered a lecture on the " Voltaic Mechanism of Man." at 
the London Institute, in 1849, in which he contended, that 
delicate Voltaic currents are produced in man by the action 
of the blood upon the brain and nervous system. He stated 
that he had been able to detect these currents in animals by 
a delicate galvanometer. He gave it as his opinion, that all 
our sensations and muscular actions originate galvanic cur- 
rents in the nervous system, and that all organs of sensation 
constitute the positive pole. 

Professor Faraday, at a late meeting of the Royal Institu- 
tion, announced his discovery that oxygen is magnetic, that 
this property of the gas is affected by heat, and that he be- 
lieved the diurnal variation of the needle to be due to the 
action of sola? heat on this newly discovered characteristic of 
oxygen — the important constituent of the atmosphere. 

It is stated, also, that Buquerell, a distinguished French 
Professor, has recently directed attention to a similar discov- 
ery. He communicated to the Academy of Sciences, at 
Paris, that oxygen is magnetic in relation to other gases as 
iron is to the other metals. He infered that it is probable, or 
possible, that diurnal variation may be connected with this 
property of oxygen. 

Our question in reference to the force of the human will, 
was suggested by a report of a curious experiment, the result 
of which was announced to the Academy of Sciences, at 



142 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



Paiis ? on the 21st of May, 1849. It was satisfactorily demon- 
strated, that deviation of the needle of a sensitive galvan- 
ometer could be produced by volition. The oscillations were 
found to vary from thirty to fifty degrees, according to the 
power of will possessed by the individual trying the experi- 
ment. 

We are convinced, it will some day be ascertained, beyond 
reasonable doubt, that electricity has much more intimate 
lelations to, and connection with, humanity — as well as much 
more force and character, that may be employed for useful 
purposes, than even the most progressive of learned Profes- 
sors will now grant it. 

In reference to the clairvoyant's external impressions on 
the subjects of which she spoke, we can confidently say that 
she is incompetent to answer the questions propounded. 
We have substantial reasons for this statement. We are 
satisfied from her conversations that she knew, externally, no 
more of Sir Astley Cooper than she expressed, and we know 
from an intimate acquaintance, that the electrical theory is 
new to her. 

The Dr. Ben net referred to, is a Spiritual friend of whom 
she knew nothing in this world. She first met him, in Spi- 
rit, while making clairvoyant examinations in company with 
a lady friend of remarkable power, who knew the Dr. when 
he lived on earth. 

Any person who will take the trouble to examine the bio- 
graphy of Sir Astley Cooper, by his nephew, will find that 
the clairvoyant's account of his peculiarities is correct. Sir 
Astley was surgeon to George IV. of England. 

In the above theories and suggestions, there is food for the 
candid and thoughtful, as well as for the curious and sceptical* 

We have felt positive electrical influences from clairvoy- 
ants, who declared that it was exerted through them by the 
will of Spirits which they described near them. We have 



SPIRIT POWER. 143 



never yet met a person of sufficient magnetic power to im- 
impress us ; and we are not perceptibly susceptible to the 
influence of the magnet. 

At the present time what is termed " electrical circles ;: 
are are being formed every week in Cincinnati for the bene- 
fit of persons whose systems require additional electrical 
power 7 and clairvoyants declare that, in these circles, the 
dwellers in the Spirit-world exert upon these persons the in- 
fluences which their debilitated systems demand. We have 
seen several women so powerfully electrised in these circles 
that the same effects were produced upon them which would 
have been had they been isolated, in connection with a gal- 
vanic battery. We are acquainted with a number of indi- 
viduals, who, by receiving the influence of u electrical cir- 
cles 7; and obeying the instructions given by clairvoyants, at 
the dictation of Spirits, have been more efficiently strength- 
ened than by any prescriptions, they could, probably, have re- 
ceived from the M. D.'s of this world, It is clairvoyant con- 
viction that physicians who have gone to the other world, are 
electrically impressing " progress ;; minds of this age for the 
developments of deeper and truer physiological laws than 
are now recognized by many medical colleges. 

Such clairvoyant communications admitted, it must be 
confessed that science has yet taught very little of electricity 
and magnetism, or of their importance to human nature — 
nor can it be said that physicians generally understand the 
bodies on which they practice — to say nothing of the Souls as- 
sociated with these bodies that must be sensibly affected when- 
ever the frames in which they dwell are diseased. 

Some of the communications which Spirits give, show that 
they have a general interest in affairs of earth. Many ex 
press great desire for the promulgation of the new spiritual 
views. While engaged upon this book clairvoyants have 
given us many encouraging communications, purporting to be 



144 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



from men who were of note in this world. At one time we 
were ill, from over work and a number of friends in the 
Spirit-world, whom we never knew in this, sent us advice and 
admonition. The Dr. Bennett, referred to in other pages? 
took particular interest in our health. J. P. Cornell sent us 
several messages, and, on one occasion, Benjamin Franklin 
ordered a clairvoyant to communicate the following aphorism ; 
" Economy of time, is not to do the most in an hour, but the most 
in a life-time: 7 

If this is not like " Poor Richard " we do not understand 
him. The clairvoyant, who reported this, is incapable of ex- 
pressing herself, in the normal condition, with anything like 
this force. 

To most persons this is sublimated nonsense, but to our 
views of Spiritual matters, there is nothing about it incom- 
patible with propriety or sound sense. 

If clairvoyance and the reported " Spiritual manifestations 7: 
be not a delusion there are Revolutions now preparing in the 
Science and Theology of the world, which shall cause a wider- 
spread and more glorious up-heaving than any mankind has 
yet witnessed; these are the Revolutions which shall usher in 
the 

u good time coming." 



In conclusion we disclaim, in any part of this work, the 
position of a teacher. We have thrown out such explanations 
and suggestions as occurred to us, fully conscious that like all 
men who write on but partially understood theories, we are 
liable to improper inferences and hasty conclusions, but if we 
shall succeed in so interesting a few candid minds in the West 
that they will give just heed to the u signs of the times " and 
patiently investigate, with pure motives and open hearts we 
will have been well paid for our labor. 



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Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

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